Department for Transport

Heathrow Airport: Parking

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of parking charges for aviation workers at Heathrow airport.

Robert Courts: Staff parking charges at Heathrow Airport are set in line with the principles set out in the under the terms of Heathrow Airport Limited’s licence, granted to the airport by the CAA. These principles include that prices should be set to enable only the recovery of costs, with no profit margin; that pricing must be supported by transparency of costs and revenues; and that any “over” or “under” recovery in one year must be accounted for setting the following year’s charges.

Aviation: Alcoholic Drinks

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ban alcohol consumption on commercial flights.

Robert Courts: The Government supports the industry’s approach to managing drunk and disruptive passenger behaviour, including the UK Aviation Industry Code of Practice on Disruptive Passengers, initiatives such as the ‘One Too Many’ awareness campaign and the introduction of tamper-proof bags for duty free alcohol sales. It is important that passengers drink responsibly and are aware of the penalties of being drunk on an aircraft. The Government continues to work in collaboration with the Civil Aviation Authority, airports and airlines to consider further measures needed to tackle this issue. At this time the Government does not plan to make an assessment of alcohol consumption bans on flights but will continue to keep this under review.

Railway Signals: Surbiton

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2021 to Question 16199 on Railway signals: Surbiton, what progress has been made on (a) Network Rail's review to understand the cause of the signal failure and limit the impacts of a similar future event; (b) South Western Railway's review of their communications plan to ensure that passengers are kept well informed in the event of any future disruption; and what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of those reviews.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Following the recent disruption at Surbiton, Network Rail undertook a review of the causes and mitigations to avoid a similar event occurring in future. Consideration is being given to whether the signalling system needs upgrading earlier than currently planned. At the same time South Western Railway are progressing a number of projects to improve their messaging to customers.

Restoring Your Railway Fund

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when a decision will be made on successful projects in the latest round of the Restore Your Railway scheme.

Chris Heaton-Harris: We have assessed the bids to round three of the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund and expect to announce the outcomes this summer.

Railways: Electrification

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to assess how to achieve cost reductions in rail electrification.

Chris Heaton-Harris: We welcome the work of the Rail Industry Association and others on this. When delivering future schemes, we need to ensure that the supply chain has the capability to deliver electrification effectively, at pace, and at the reduced costs that the rail industry says it can deliver at. For our part, as individual schemes are developed and bottom-up costs identified, we and Network Rail must learn the lessons from previous schemes and implement them to ensure that electrification is delivered more efficiently than in the past.

Railways: North Yorkshire

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2021 to Question 16196 on Railways: North Yorkshire, whether part of the 28 single track kilometres of new overhead line electrification will be installed between Colton Junction and Church Fenton.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Work is underway to install the 28 single track kilometres of new overhead line equipment between York and Church Fenton, this includes the section between Colton Junction and Church Fenton.

Railways: Suicide

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential link between the number of unmanned train stations in the UK and the 283 suicides that occurred on mainline rail in 2019-20.

Chris Heaton-Harris: British Transport Police regularly analyse suicide patterns. The causes of these tragic events are complex and the most significant risk factors relate to mental health. My officials and I work with industry, the British Transport Police and charities to ensure that vulnerable people can be identified and provided the support they need. Staffing and staff training plays a key role in our response, and industry colleagues make approximately 2,000 lifesaving interventions each year which means six lives are saved for everyone lost.

Railways: Suicide

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of (a) Network Rail and (b) other rail operators on the increase in (i) suicides, (ii) attempted suicides and (iii) injuries on mainline rail from 2017 to 2020.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Secretary of State regularly engages with Network Rail, Transport for London and train operators to discuss fatalities on the rail network. The number of suicides each year is relatively static averaging about 300 per year. We support the extensive work taking place within the rail industry to both prevent, and attempt to drive a reduction in incidents.

Railways: Parking

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the impact of car parking charges and fines at car parks associated with railway stations on the number of drivers completing part of their journey by rail.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department for Transport has not conducted a specific assessment relating to the impact of car parking charges and fines at station car parks. Station car parks are managed and run by train operating companies and Network Rail based on the needs of passengers and the local community, including the availability of other nearby car parks or limitations posed by either being in city centre or rural locations. The Department encourages a wide range of modes of travelling to and from stations, to improve active travel connections to stations.

South Western Railway: Rolling Stock

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Class 701 Arterio fleet will be introduced on the South Western Railway network.

Chris Heaton-Harris: South Western Railways will be introducing their new Class 701 units from late 2021.

Railways: Coronavirus

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support he is providing to (a) train operators and (b) local authorities in the event that they decide to continue requiring the use of face coverings after the final step of the Government's covid-19 roadmap has been implemented.

Chris Heaton-Harris: It is for train operators and local authorities, including those with devolved powers relating to public transport such as Transport for London, to decide how to manage the transport services they provide, taking account of the Government guidance on safer transport as well as local needs and situations. Government recommends and encourages the use of face coverings in crowded and enclosed spaces where people come into contact with others they don’t normally meet, including on public transport.

Railways: Public Consultation

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether Great British Railways will undertake local public consultations on (a) changes to services, (b) infrastructure improvements and (c) building new lines and other new projects.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Great British Railways will be organised around regional divisions responsive and accountable for the whole system in their areas. Regional divisions will need to decide priorities for investment and collaborate to operate an integrated network.Local teams will bring decision-making closer to the people and places that the railway serves. They will be responsible for the day-to-day delivery on routes of the network and will be integrated across track and train, bringing together infrastructure, customer service, station management and train operation into one team, in partnership with operators.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to expand electric car charging provision across the (a) A road and (b) motorway network in (i) Leicestershire and (ii) the UK.

Rachel Maclean: In May 2020, the Government published an ambitious vision for rapid charging infrastructure along strategic roads in England over the next decade. This vision includes targets for the number of high-powered (150kW+) chargepoints that will be located across motorways and major A roads to meet the future demand from electric vehicles (EVs). In the short term, the Government expects to see six high-powered chargers at every motorway service area in England by 2023, installed by the private sector. The Government regularly engages with motorway service area operators to monitor progress against this charging provision. In the longer term, to ensure the private sector can continue to expand the charging network at pace in the 2020s, the Government will invest £950 million through the Rapid Charging Fund to future-proof grid capacity along England’s motorways and major A roads to prepare for 100% uptake of zero emission cars and vans ahead of need. Since the management of motorways and major roads is a devolved matter, equivalent funding for the Devolved Administrations will be made available through the Barnett Formula. We also recently consulted on improving the consumer experience at public chargepoints. This includes opening public chargepoint data; improving the reliability of the network; streamlining the payment methods offered to drivers; and increasing pricing transparency. We will publish an EV Infrastructure Strategy to set out the vision and action plan for charging infrastructure rollout needed to achieve the 2030/35 phase out successfully. This will set expected roles for different stakeholders and how government will intervene to address the gaps between the current market status and our vision.

Public Transport: Fares

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to reduce the cost of public transport to encourage members of the public to drive and fly less.

Rachel Maclean: The National Bus Strategy, published on the 15 March, will deliver better bus services for passengers across England, through ambitious and far-reaching reform of how services are planned and delivered, to make local bus services more frequent, more reliable, easier to understand and use, better co-ordinated with simpler fares. We expect Local Transport Authorities to produce Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) by the end of October 2021, setting out an ambitious vision for travel by bus in their area, meeting the goals and expectations in the strategy.  New national rail flexible season tickets were announced as part of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, reflecting modern working patterns and saving many passengers hundreds of pounds. The tickets went on sale on 21 June and became available for passengers to use on 28 June. Great British Railways will use its leadership to simplify the current mass of complicated fares and tickets. Passengers will have simpler digital ticketing, be able to purchase tickets through a single industry website and app. There will be greater convenience for passengers through contactless travel in urban areas using contactless bankcards and smartphones.

Railways: Protective Clothing

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason mandatory face coverings will no longer be required on the rail network after 19 July 2021.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase levels of passenger confidence on the rail network as covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to ensure passenger and staff safety on the rail network, in the context of the fourth step of the covid-19 roadmap.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with rail operating companies to ensure service levels will match a potential increase in rail passengers following the fourth step of the covid-19 roadmap.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The success of vaccine deployment has paved the way for the gradual lifting of restrictions. Whilst many of the legal restrictions that the Government has imposed during the pandemic have been lifted at Step 4 of the roadmap, cautious guidance remains. Guidance sets out that the Government expects and recommends that people wear face coverings in crowded areas such as public transport. Throughout the pandemic, the Department has continued to work with the rail industry to ensure passenger confidence remains high. The Government has published updated Safer Travel guidance which sets out steps operators can take to identify risks arising from COVID-19, which should inform decisions on controls put in place to keep passengers safe and maintain and increase passenger confidence. Such measures can include increasing the ventilation and airflow through vehicles and carriages where possible, continuing with increased cleaning regimes, in particular around high focus touch points, as well as encouraging and recommending the use of face coverings. The safety of passengers and staff has been a priority for the Department throughout the pandemic. The Government has published updated Safer Travel guidance which sets out steps operators can take to identify risks arising from coronavirus, which should inform decisions on controls put in place to keep passengers and rail staff safe. Such measures can include increasing the ventilation and airflow through vehicles and carriages where possible, continuing with increased cleaning regimes, in particular around high focus touch points, as well as encouraging and recommending the use of face coverings. The Government has also published guidance for passengers which advises people on how to keep themselves, fellow passengers, and staff safe while travelling. Since the start of the pandemic, travel patterns have shifted significantly. The Department is working with industry partners to develop attractive timetables that reflect changing travel habits, deliver excellent performance, and offer good value for money for the taxpayer. As we are implementing a further easing of restrictions, the industry will continue to collaborate to ensure key flows, including commuter routes, benefit from appropriate levels of service.

Railways

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Integrated Rail Plan will be published before the parliamentary summer recess.

Andrew Stephenson: We intend to publish the Integrated Rail Plan soon. Given the long-term significance of the IRP, it is important that Government carefully considers the priorities and evidence from metro mayors, council leaders, and representatives from the North and Midlands as well as the National Infrastructure Commission’s Rail Needs Assessment, ahead of setting out our plans.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Natural Gas: Housing

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to reduce the cost to people of disconnecting from gas supplies as part of decarbonising their homes.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Government is planning to publish a Heat and Buildings Strategy in due course, which will set out the immediate actions we will take for reducing emissions from buildings. In the meantime, BEIS believes in a strong independent economic regulatory environment and support Ofgem in the core priority (amongst others) to help achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050 while maximising value for money for consumers. As part of our commitment to the Future Homes Standard, which will ensure new build homes are future-proofed with low carbon heating and world leading levels of energy efficiency, we will consult on the feasibility of ending connections to the gas grid in new build homes. We need to ensure the right legislation is in place to support the heating market through the transition to net zero. We will, therefore, review the overarching regulatory framework set out in the Gas Act 1995 to ensure the appropriate powers and responsibilities are in place to facilitate a decarbonised gas future that does not risk our energy security or lead to disproportionate impacts on consumers across the UK.

Natural Gas: Carbon Emissions

Mick Whitley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Climate Change and Corporate Responsibility  of 11 March 2021, Official Report, column HL 1803, what assessment his Department has made of the potential role that the GeoEngine technology being developed by Titan Electricity could play in decarbonising the process of sour and acid natural gas extraction.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: BEIS engineering experts met with Titan Electricity at a meeting on the 5th July to discuss their geo-engine concept and its use in removing hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide from sour and acid natural gas. Technologies similar to the geo-engine could help achieve the ambitious decarbonisation targets set in the North Sea Transition Deal for offshore gas published by BEIS in March. This commits the UK offshore oil and gas sector to a carbon dioxide production emission reduction of 10% in 2025, 25% in 2027, and 50% in 2030 compared to a 2018 baseline. The Department does not specify the equipment used on gas rigs however, this being a matter solely for the individual scheme developers.

Viro: Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department holds information on how many Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) awards have been made for biomass boilers installed by the company VIRO.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department hold information on how many Renewable Heat Incentive contracts have been terminated for biomass boilers installed by the company VIRO.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department holds information on how many Renewable Heat Incentive applications have been rejected for biomass boilers installed by the company VIRO.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Ofgem, as the scheme administrator hold data on how many applications to the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive have been awarded, terminated and rejected for biomass boilers installed by VIRO. This data is not held for applications to the Non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive.

Large Goods Vehicles

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the waiting time for industrial trucks.

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the waiting time for specialised transport vehicles.

Nadhim Zahawi: We recognise the ongoing challenges facing industrialised truck and specialised vehicle manufacturing as a result of Covid-19. The Government has been supporting the economy through loan guarantees, support for exporters, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and grants for research and development. The Government regularly engages with manufacturers and manufacturing trade associations on opportunities to support the growth and competitiveness of manufacturing sectors in the UK.

ACAS

Stuart Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of services delivered by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service.

Paul Scully: BEIS officials review Acas’ performance on a regular basis as set out in the ‘Acas Framework Document’. This document sets out the broad framework within which Acas operates including the performance expectations for the services they deliver.

Electric Vehicles

Stuart Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what incentives are being put in place to encourage the transition to electric vehicles.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Government had already committed £1.5 billion to support the early market and remove barriers to ZEV ownership. Alongside the new phase out dates for new petrol and diesel cars and vans, we pledged a further £2.8 billion package of measures to support industry and consumers to make the switch to cleaner vehicles. This includes up to £1 billion to support the electrification of UK vehicles and their supply chains. The Government will provide £1.3 billion to support the continued roll-out of chargepoint infrastructure at homes, workplaces, residential streets and across the wider roads network, to provide motorists with confidence to purchase an EV. Government and industry have already supported the installation of nearly 25,000 public charging devices. This includes more than 4,500 rapid devices – one of the largest networks in Europe. Government grants for plug in vehicles continue to be available to help reduce the up-front purchase price of electric vehicles, with total money committed at £582 million for cars, vans, motorcycles and taxis to 2022/23.The March 2020 Budget included the extension of favourable benefit in kind tax rates for zero emission vehicles out to 2025: company car tax is 1% in 2021/22 and 2% in 2022/23 through to 2024/25; and all zero emission cars are exempt from vehicle excise duty (VED).Local Authorities may also provide additional incentives such as free parking and exemption from the congestion charge.

Company Law

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department holds any information on companies where the Directors have made major decisions while not having quoracy.

Paul Scully: Companies House does not hold any information on companies where the directors have made major decisions while not having quoracy.

Business: Newcastle upon Tyne Central

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of staff being told to self-isolate after the easing of covid-19 restrictions on 19 July 2021 on businesses in Newcastle upon Tyne Central constituency where infection rates are higher than national average.

Paul Scully: On Monday 5 July, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister set out the details of the final stage of the roadmap and our approach for managing Covid as we learn to live with the virus. The ‘Working Safely’ guidance was updated on 14 July in advance of moving to step 4. Isolation remains the most important action people can take to stop the spread of the virus. It is crucial people isolate immediately when they are told to do so. Businesses should be supporting employees to self-isolate. From 16 August, those who are fully vaccinated will no longer be required to self-isolate if they are a close contact of a positive case. Instead, they will be advised to take a PCR test. Until these changes come into effect, it is essential that everyone continues to observe the rules to protect those who are not yet fully vaccinated or are clinically vulnerable. Anyone who tests positive will still need to self-isolate regardless of their vaccination status. In order to protect the delivery of public services, a very limited number of named critical workers will be informed that they are considered to have reasonable excuse to leave self-isolation if they are contacts. This will only apply to workers who are fully vaccinated (someone who is 14 days post-second dose) and is solely for the purpose of going to work. This is a small and targeted intervention, enabling individuals to attend work where not doing so would lead to major detrimental impact on the availability, integrity or delivery of essential services – including services whose integrity, if compromised, could result in significant loss of life or casualties, and/or attend work where not doing so would result in significant impact on national security, defence, or the functioning of the state.

Re-employment

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2021 to Question 1169, whether he has (a) considered that evidence from Acas' fact finding exercise and (b) drawn any conclusions from that evidence.

Paul Scully: Last year, we asked the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) to collect evidence into how fire and rehire is being used by employers. This report was published on 8 June and is available from https://www.acas.org.uk/fire-and-rehire-report. The Government has considered the findings of the report. We remain clear that we expect all employers to treat their employees fairly and in the spirit of partnership. Using threats about firing and rehiring as a negotiation tactic is unacceptable. We expect employers and employees to negotiate new terms and conditions and there are laws around how this must be done, and protections in place when firms are considering redundancies. This is clearly a complex area for both businesses and workers. That is why we have asked Acas to produce better, more comprehensive, clearer guidance to help employers explore all the options before considering “fire and rehire” and encourage good employment relations practice.

Business: Newcastle Upon Tyne Central

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the total amount received from the (a) Bounce Back Loan Scheme and (b) Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme has been in Newcastle upon Tyne Central, broken down by (i) loan type and (ii) constituency average.

Paul Scully: The analysis of final Coronavirus loan scheme data was published on July 6, 2021 on the British Business Bank website.[1] Under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, 136 loans were delivered in the Newcastle upon Tyne Central constituency, to the sum of £47,292,585. The average value of loan was £347,739.59. Under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, 2,635 loans were delivered in the Newcastle upon Tyne Central constituency to the sum of £81,819,93. The average value of loan was £3,105.12. [1] https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/analysis-of-final-coronavirus-loan-scheme-data-shows-79-3bn-of-loans-to-1-67m-businesses-evenly-distributed-across-whole-of-the-uk/

Northern Ireland Office

Terrorism: Northern Ireland

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to the policy paper entitled Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland's past, CP 498, published on 14 July 2021, what plans the Government has to bring forward legislative proposals to end judicial activity in relation to Troubles-related conduct across the spectrum of criminal cases, and current and future civil cases and inquests.

Mr Robin Walker: As outlined in the command paper published on 14 July, the Government wants to bring forward legislation that focuses on reconciliation and information recovery, delivers for victims and veterans, and ends the cycle of reinvestigations into the Troubles which is not working for anybody. The Government’s proposals are intended to inform ongoing intensive engagement with the Irish Government, Northern Ireland parties and other stakeholders with an interest in this issue. All elements of these proposals - and any alternative proposals - are subject to ongoing consideration and discussion.

Terrorism: Northern Ireland

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans he has to seek the consent of the Northern Ireland Assembly for legislative proposals to address the legacy of the past.

Mr Robin Walker: The Government intends to request legislative consent for its legislative proposals relating to the legacy of the past. The Government is also committed to working with the Northern Ireland parties, as well as the Irish Government and other stakeholders, as part of an ongoing intensive process of engagement, with a view to finding agreement on the way forward.

Department of Health and Social Care

Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions

Mr Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason it was not possible to answer Question 28127 tabled by the hon. Member for Forest of Dean on the named day of 12 July 2021; and when he plans to provide a substantive response to that question.

Edward Argar: I refer the Rt hon. Member to the answer of 20 July to Question 28127.

Genetic Engineering

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential for gene therapy technologies to help tackle health inequalities in (a) communities affected by specific hereditary conditions and (b) the general population.

Edward Argar: Gene therapies have the potential to treat hereditary and non-hereditary diseases that are a cause of long-term health conditions and poor quality of life. The Government supports research, development and adoption readiness of advanced therapy medicinal products, including gene therapies, through the Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre network, which is hosted by the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult. The Department has also invested over £9 million in NHS Blood and Transplants’ Clinical Biotechnology Centre which manufactures recombinant proteins and gene therapy products for use in clinical trials enabling access for patients to the latest therapies.

Department of Health and Social Care: Email

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Minister for Health has conducted any departmental business on his private email addresses; and what mechanisms are in place to ensure that full records are kept of that business.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health has conducted any departmental business on her private email addresses; and what mechanisms are in place to ensure that full records are kept of that business.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether any departmental business has been conducted on his private email addresses; and what mechanisms are in place to ensure that full records are kept of that business.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Minister for Care has conducted any departmental business on her private email addresses; and what mechanisms are in place to ensure that full records are kept of that business.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care has conducted any departmental business on her private email addresses; and what mechanisms are in place to ensure that full records are kept of that business.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation has conducted any departmental business on his private email addresses; and what mechanisms are in place to ensure that full records are kept of that business.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment has conducted any departmental business on his private email addresses; and what mechanisms are in place to ensure that full records are kept of that business.

Edward Argar: All Ministers are aware of the guidance around personal email usage and Government business is conducted in line with that guidance.

Coronavirus

Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 May 2021 to Question 6161 on the vaccination status of people hospitalised with the Indian variant of covid-19, for what reason those essential data are not held centrally in the format requested; in what format those data are held centrally; and if he will make it his policy without further delay to (a) gather centrally and (b)  subsequently release to the media each day the numbers of people that have been hospitalised with the Indian variant of covid-19 who are (i) vaccinated with (A) one and (B) both doses and (ii) unvaccinated against coronavirus.

Nadhim Zahawi: Data concerning the numbers of people hospitalised with the Delta variant who have received one dose, two doses and are unvaccinated is collected centrally for inclusion in Public Health England’s (PHE) ‘Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern: technical briefings’ which is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investigation-of-novel-sars-cov-2-variant-variant-of-concern-20201201This data was first included on 27 May and form part of ongoing surveillance and vaccine effectiveness monitoring activity. Public Health England collates data on COVID-19 cases, hospitalisations and COVID-19 vaccination status from a number of different data sources, including the Office for National Statistics, National Health Service trusts, private laboratories and Lighthouse Laboratories There are currently no plans to provide daily statistics due to varying reporting timelines of the data sources.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to offer people who are immunosuppressed, but not identified as extremely clinically vulnerable, a booster covid-19 vaccination as part of the covid-19 vaccination booster programme.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) published interim advice on a potential COVID-19 booster vaccination programme on 30 June, which is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-5-year-action-plan-for-antimicrobial-resistance-2019-to-2024  The JCVI advises a two staged approach, with individuals in stage one offered a booster and flu vaccine as soon as possible from September. Individuals in stage two should be offered a booster vaccine as soon as practicable after stage one, with equal emphasis on deployment of the flu vaccine where eligible. The JCVI suggests that adults aged 16 years old and over who are immunosuppressed are offered a booster vaccine in stage one. Final decisions on the timing and scope and cohort eligibility of any COVID-19 vaccine booster programme will be confirmed once the JCVI has provided their final advice.

Travel: Coronavirus

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that participants of the Novavax trial are treated equitably with regards to international travel.

Nadhim Zahawi: We are working with clinical research sites to add participant information into the National Immunisation Management Service to allow participants to access their NHS COVID Pass for domestic and international travel. Discussions are ongoing with other countries, the G7, the European Commission and the World Health Organization to shape the approach taken around the world to sharing health status for travel, including vaccination status.

Travel: Coronavirus

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2021 to Question 29826 on Coronavirus: Vaccination and in the context of UK travellers reportedly refused entry by Malta, what discussions he has had with EU officials on vaccination certificates.

Nadhim Zahawi: Following our discussions, the Maltese Government confirmed on 15 July that they will accept all COVID-19 vaccines approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and all United Kingdom travel advice was updated.We are actively engaging with other Member States and organisations, including the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the World Health Organization.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the European Medicines Agency on the exclusion of Indian-made covid vaccines from the EU vaccine passport scheme.

Nadhim Zahawi: We have had no recent discussions with the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The EMA is an independent regulatory body which makes decisions on the vaccines approved for use in the European Union. The EU Digital COVID Certificate is a matter for the European Commission and individual Member States. The Government continues to engage the European Commission on certification to ensure that travel is unhindered and supported by a common approach. People vaccinated in the United Kingdom can use the NHS COVID Pass to demonstrate their vaccination status for international travel.

Coronavirus: York

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of York's local contact tracing system compared to NHS Track and Trace.

Jo Churchill: No specific assessment has been made.

Coronavirus: Contact Tracing

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data he holds on the length of time taken to upload contact tracing information on the NHS Test and Trace system.

Jo Churchill: No such data is held. Contact tracing information is uploaded during the scripted conversations with the contact cases by the NHS Test and Trace call handler.

Coronavirus: Quarantine

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were told to isolate by the NHS Test and Trace app on (a) 18, (b) 19 and (c) 20 July 2021.

Jo Churchill: The Department does not hold data in the format requested. We are considering what further metrics we may be able to publish about app usage.

Coronavirus: Contact Tracing

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people deleted the NHS Test and Trace app on (a) 18, (b) 19 and (c) 20 July 2021.

Jo Churchill: The Department does not hold data in the format requested. We are considering what further metrics we may be able to publish about app usage.

Government Departments: Coronavirus

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Government departments have taken part in the covid-19 daily testing pilot.

Jo Churchill: The Border Force as part of the Home Department, and the Cabinet Office have participated or are participating in the workplaces daily contact testing pilot evaluation scheme.

Organs: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish data his Department holds on the (a) short and (b) long term effect of covid-19 on organs.

Jo Churchill: Data on the short and long-term effect of COVID-19 infection on organs is not collected centrally.

Coronavirus: Contact Tracing

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate the Government has made of the number of people who have deleted the NHS covid-19 application after installing it.

Jo Churchill: We have made no specific estimate as this information is not currently held. We are considering what further metrics we may be able to publish about app usage.

Coronavirus: Contact Tracing

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans for NHS Test and Trace to record more detailed contact tracing information.

Jo Churchill: NHS Test and Trace plan to record additional contact tracing information in connection with the recent announcement covering future self-isolation requirements for those who are fully vaccinated.

Ministers: Coronavirus

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Government Ministers have taken part in the covid-19 daily testing pilot scheme.

Jo Churchill: We do not hold information on the occupations of people taking part in the workplace daily contact testing pilot evaluation scheme. Information for the daily contact testing clinical study, trialling home testing for members of the general public, is also anonymised.

Coronavirus: Screening

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that there are sufficient lateral flow tests and PCR tests to meet the covid-19 testing demand.

Jo Churchill: We are increasing our polymerase chain reaction and lateral flow device capacity to align with demand and expect that additional capacity will be secured over the coming weeks. We will also begin building our winter stockpile to ensure sufficient cover is in place ahead of winter.

Coronavirus: Screening

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will list the criteria used to identify organisations suitable for participation in the daily contact testing pilot.

Jo Churchill: Organisations participating in the workplace daily contact testing pilot were selected having expressed an interest in joining the pilot and whether an asymptomatic testing site was available in the workplace. The workplaces selected were also designed to ensure a spread of different types of organisation, including additional public sector organisations, to assess the operational implications of running daily contact testing.

Coronavirus: Screening

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) employees of Government, (b) Ministers and (c) Members of Parliament have participated in the daily testing pilot.

Jo Churchill: We do not hold information on the occupation of those taking part in the workplace daily contact testing pilot evaluation scheme. Data for the daily contact testing clinical study, trialling home testing for members of the general public, is also anonymised.

Test and Trace Support Payment

Dame Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people who have applied for a £500 Test and Trace Support Payment to date were ineligible to receive that payment.

Jo Churchill: This information is not currently available as it is being collated from lower tier and unitary local authorities and centrally validated.

NHS: Software

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which organisation (a) developed and (b) owns the copyright for the facial recognition software for the NHS App; what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the NHS App was tested on a diverse range of faces; and if he will set out under what circumstances data collected by that App will leave (i) the device, (ii) the NHS and (iii) the UK.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The facial verification software for the NHS App was developed by iProov who also own the copyright. iProov have developed their services using datasets which are highly diverse across age, ethnicity and gender and their services are continually performance-tested to ensure a high-level coverage across all face types.NHS login and NHS App store and process personal data within the United Kingdom and European Economic Area. NHS Digital use two approved identity verification suppliers to check the user submitted photographic identity document. This data is processed outside of the device but remains within the control of NHS Digital as the data controller and within the UK. Data leaving the UK is heavily restricted. There are two data processors engaged by NHS Digital to support delivery of the NHS App who process data outside the UK.

Travel: Coronavirus

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2021 to Question 27366 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, what steps he has taken to ensure that AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and distributed to patients by the NHS are being accepted by EU countries for the purposes of travel.

Nadhim Zahawi: Residents of the United Kingdom who have received the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India will be able to travel to European Union countries using the NHS COVID Pass, which has been available for international travel since May.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Matt Rodda: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much (a) his Department and (b) the NHS has spent on (i) advertising using social media and other forms of information channels and (ii) other public information to encourage people to uptake the covid-19 vaccine to date; and how much has been spent on public information to encourage minority communities to receive that vaccination.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department spent £1.3 million on advertising between December 2020 and 31 January 2021. Activity included tailored content designed to specifically support multicultural communities. Some local National Health Service teams ran COVID-19 vaccine campaigns, but this information is not collected centrally.Campaign spending supporting the COVID-19 vaccination programme transferred to the Cabinet Office in February 2021.

Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Independent Review

Saqib Bhatti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review entitled First Do No Harm published in July 2020, what recent steps he has taken to progress implementation of the recommendation for a redress agency for people harmed by medicines and medical devices.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Government response to the Report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review was published on 21 July. The Government stated that it did not accept recommendation three to establish a redress agency as set out in the report. The Government and others have previously established redress schemes without the need for an additional agency.

Coronavirus: Screening

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the current rate for false (a) positives and (b) negatives from (i) PCR and (ii) lateral flow covid-19 tests.

Jo Churchill: Since August 2020, Public Health England has evaluated over 150 lateral flow antigen devices produced by United Kingdom and international manufacturers. To date, 31 have displayed performance characteristics desirable for mass testing, namely a very high specificity and sensitivity – or low false positive and false negative - against viral loads associated with infectiousness.Specificity and sensitivity vary from test to test. The rate of kit failure or false positive or negative, from a phase two evaluation was 9.9%. Real time polymerase chain reaction tests are highly sensitive and highly specific at over 90%, but may still show low rates of false negative and false positive results. These false negative and false positive results cannot be entirely eliminated and all tests should be interpreted in light of clinical history and presentation.

Tobacco

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when Public Health England’s investigation into menthol cigarettes will conclude; whether the testing of those products has commenced; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Churchill: Public Health England’s testing of tobacco products, as part of the Department’s investigation of possible breaches of the prohibition of menthol cigarettes, is ongoing. We expect this work to be completed by the end of the year.We expect the tobacco industry to comply with the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations in regard to the menthol cigarette ban that was introduced in May 2020. HM Revenue and Customs is able to apply a number of sanctions against retailers found selling illicit menthol tobacco.

Travel: Quarantine

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what minimum service standards apply to the quarantine exemption team; and how many and what proportion of requests are dealt with within the target response time.

Jo Churchill: There is no specific minimum standard for the exemptions team due to the different types of exemptions that exist and the large number of passengers entering into managed quarantine each week from ‘red list’ countries. Each exemption request is considered on an individual case by case basis. Due to the quantity and complexity of these requests the exemptions team are reviewing the current process to centrally validate data and enhance collation capabilities.

NHS Test and Trace: Serco

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how long the contract with Serco for NHS Test and Trace has been extended beyond the initial 14-week period.

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to further extend the contract with Serco for NHS Test and Trace; and whether a further extension would breach the maximum value as stated in the original contract.

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse is of the contract with Serco for NHS Test and Trace for the (a) initial 14-week period and (b) subsequent extensions of that contract.

Jo Churchill: The Department has two contracts with Serco in relation to COVID-19. The first is for the provision of facilities management services to support the operation of testing sites. The contract was let in March 2020 for an initial term of six months to September 2020. The final cost was £47.9 million. It was extended from 1 October 2020 to 30 April 2021 for an expanded service with a final outturn against the budget of £208 million of £209.3 million. This was as a result of additional support required such as testing at Dover. A contract extension was agreed to ensure service continuity of the facilities management service until 23 July 2021 whilst a new procurement exercise was undertaken. The value of this extension is £97 million.Following a competition on the Crown Commercial Services Framework for Facilities Management, Serco was awarded a contract on 25 June to continue providing these services with a value of up to £322 million for a 12 month period with an option to extend for six months. Given the number of site transitions this involves, we are currently finalising a further contract extension of 24 days to ensure that all sites will be fully transitioned and mobilised under the new contracts by 16 August.The second contract is for the National Health Service call handling service to support the tracing initiative. The contract had a maximum value of £410 million to cover the initial period and any and all extension periods undertaken up to a period of 12 months. The contract was extended for its full term to the end of May 2021. The actual outturn expenditure on this contract was £358 million. The contract has been extended for a period of six months from 1 June to the end of November for a maximum value of £66 million. The contract has been extended for a limited period so that there would not be a gap in the tracing service during a crucial time in the pandemic.

Tobacco: Sales

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timescale is for Public Health England completing its investigation into the sale of menthol cigarettes; and if he will publish preliminary findings of that investigation.

Jo Churchill: Public Health England has issued an invitation to tender for the testing of a range of tobacco products. We anticipate the testing will be completed by the end of the year and we will consider publication when the testing has concluded.

Cancer: Staff

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will commit to publishing a long-term, fully funded plan for the cancer workforce.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to (a) support and (b) allocate funding to the cancer workforce to ensure that there are sufficient nurses to tackle the treatment backlog and provide the best care for people living with cancer.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to produce a long-term and fully funded plan for the cancer workforce.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to increase the size of the cancer nursing workforce to help tackle the cancer treatment backlog; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will publish a fully-costed multi-year funding settlement as part of the autumn 2021 spending review to ensure an adequate number of cancer nurse specialists to deliver the targets set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on publishing a fully-costed multi-year funding settlement to ensure the adequacy of the size of the cancer nurse specialist workforce to deliver the targets in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Jo Churchill: The Spending Review 2020 provided £260 million to continue to increase the National Health Service workforce and support commitments made in the NHS Long Term Plan, including the Cancer Workforce Plan phase one published by Health Education England (HEE) in 2017. In 2020/21, HEE is prioritising the training of 400 clinical endoscopists and 450 reporting radiographers. Training grants are being offered for 250 nurses to become cancer nurse specialists and 100 chemotherapy nurses, training 58 biomedical scientists, developing an advanced clinical practice qualification in oncology and extending cancer support-worker training.HEE is facilitating a number of initiatives to increase clinical nurse specialist capacity which will help tackle the elective backlog, including the development of cancer nurses, through provision of 250 training grants of up to £5,000 each in 2020/21. The grants are aimed at existing and aspiring cancer nurse specialists to enable them to undertake additional training to develop specialist clinical, leadership, education or research capabilities.Discussions with HM Treasury on any multi-year settlement will take place within the Spending Review process.

Coronavirus: Quarantine

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the scientific reasoning is behind the Government’s policy of a person who is fully vaccinated against covid-19 still having to self-isolate if they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus.

Jo Churchill: Continuing with close contact isolation until 16 August 2021 will allow more time for people to receive their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Higher population immunity will mitigate against the small risk of onward transmission from fully vaccinated, but infected, close contacts. Maintaining contact self-isolation will contribute to transmission reduction and aligns with the principle of gradual resumption of pre-pandemic behaviours following step four of the roadmap.The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies’ modelling suggests a period of extremely high prevalence of infection lasting until at least the end of August 2021, which increases exposure risk, even in vaccinated individuals. This modelling is available at the following link:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1001160/S1300_SAGE_93_minutes_Coronavirus__COVID-19__response__7_July_2021.pdf

Dental Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria he is using to assess the adequacy of the number of dentists.

Jo Churchill: Health Education England (HEE) uses population data to identify locations that may have an over supply or under supply of dental professionals in training, both currently and projected for future years. HEE is working to develop training allocation models to provide more places in those areas which are undersupplied based on this data, which is intended to address medium and long-term supply. Data on the number of dentists who have carried out National Health Service activity by region during each financial year is published annually by NHS Digital as part of their NHS Dental Statistics collection. This, alongside other data held at regional level on the oral health needs of their population, is used to assess the adequacy of provision.

Dermatology

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to prioritise the transformation of dermatology services in England.

Jo Churchill: NHS England’s National Outpatient Transformation programme is developing a toolkit to support local systems to transform dermatology services. The toolkit includes a suite of redesign tools, optimal dermatology pathways and a baseline self-assessment tool, which will enable local systems to improve the efficiency and enhance the benefits of dermatology outpatient appointments. It also explores opportunities to improve the quality of primary care referrals into secondary care, teledermatology and the two week wait skin cancer pathway, working collaboratively with the National Cancer team to create new pathways for assessing and treating suspected skin cancer patients.

General Practitioners: Quarantine

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to ensure patients can be seen by a trained registered health professional in the event that GP practices are required to close in response to a high number of staff self-isolating as a result of increased levels of covid-19 infection.

Jo Churchill: Through its regional teams, NHS England and NHS Improvement work closely with clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to ensure business continuity measures are in place in the event that a practice encounters an outbreak which may have an impact on service delivery. This includes ensuring access to an appointment with a health care professional, either face-to-face or remotely as appropriate, taking into account patient need and clinical judgement. In many cases, self-isolating staff have been able to consult remotely using laptops provided by CCGs to support home working.

Coronavirus: Protective Clothing

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing free (a) FFP2 and (b) FFP3 face masks to clinically extremely vulnerable people during the covid-19 outbreak.

Jo Churchill: Personal protective equipment (PPE) is used in a limited number of settings to protect wearers against hazards and risks, such as surgical mask or respirators used in medical and industrial settings. FFP2/PPF3 masks and other higher specification PPE must be professionally fit tested to ensure that air flows through the filter rather than around the mask. If these masks are provided without fit testing, it is not clear that they will be effective. Additionally, in settings where members of the public are currently required to wear face coverings, it may be difficult to safely and comfortably wear a fitted mask for extended periods of time.

Brain: Tumours

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support the families and friends of patients with brain tumours.

Jo Churchill: The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) mental health services can be accessed by adults with physical health problems, including those with brain tumours, as well as their family and friends whose mental health may be impacted as a result of this physical illness. Many IAPT services have strong links with a range of health and care settings to ensure that patients and carers receive the right support as quickly as possible, including secondary care and the patient groups within it.

Public Places and Public Transport: Protective Clothing

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the evidential basis is for the guidance on the voluntary use of face coverings whilst on public transport and in public spaces.

Jo Churchill: In June 2020, Public Health England (PHE) used an established methodology to complete a rapid review of the evidence related to face coverings in the community and COVID-19 and concluded that “the beneficial effects of wearing masks may be increased when combined with other non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as hand washing and social distancing.” A second review published in January 2021 corroborated the findings of the first and found consistent evidence that the use of face coverings in community settings reduced the spread of COVID-19.These reviews also looked at laboratory simulations in which the filtration efficacy of face coverings was tested. All face covering materials tested were deemed to offer some protection to the wearer through filtration of aerosol and droplet transmission compared with no barrier at all, and mouth and nose cover reduced droplet spread from the wearer. The review noted that this evidence derives from laboratory conditions and only simulates the COVID-19 virus, so may not take into account conditions in the community.PHE’s review findings supports the voluntary wearing of face coverings as they can have beneficial impacts for wearers and others around them. The Government recommends their use in crowded and enclosed space where through guidance.

Public Transport: Protective Clothing

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if will make an assessment of the potential merits of maintaining the requirement for face coverings to be worn on public transport beyond 19 July 2021.

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of mandating the wearing of face coverings on public transport beyond 19 July 2021 in the context of recent rising numbers of cases of covid-19.

Jo Churchill: The legal requirements to wear a face covering will be lifted in all settings on 19 July in line with step four of the roadmap. However, to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, the Government expects and recommends the wearing of face coverings when coming into contact with people in enclosed and crowded spaces, such as public transport. This will reduce the risk of individuals and others around them transmitting COVID 19.The Government’s guidance on face coverings will be published in due course. This guidance will enable people to make informed decisions about how to manage the risk to themselves and others.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help reduce the risk of contracting covid-19 for immunocompromised people after the planned easing of covod-19 restrictions on 19 July 2021.

Jo Churchill: Guidance for clinically extremely vulnerable individuals was published on 12 July including those who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed, is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19Following the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the Government offered the household contacts aged over 16 years old of severely immunosuppressed individuals priority access to vaccination from COVID-19, to help reduce the risk of the immunosuppressed individual catching COVID-19 from a member of their household. This recommendation has now been extended to household contacts aged 12 to 15 years old.The JCVI has provided interim advice is that booster vaccines should first be offered in a two staged approach, with individuals in stage one offered a booster and flu vaccine as soon as possible from September, which includes adults aged 16 years old and over who are immunosuppressed. Those in stage two should be offered a booster vaccine as soon as practicable after stage one, with equal emphasis on deployment of the flu vaccine where eligible. This includes adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals. General practitioner practices or specialists can also provide personalised support and advice on any additional precautions.

General Practitioners

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Carpenters Practice inspection report, published by the Care Quality Commission on 26 June 2021, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect on (a) patient safety, (b) effective leadership, (c) good governance and (d) high quality sustainable care of sale of GP practices to for profit providers.

Jo Churchill: Regardless of whether the contract holder is an individual, a partnership, or an organisation, all contract holders and providers of National Health Service core primary medical services are subject to the same requirements, regulation and standards. We have no plans to make a further assessment.

General Practitioners

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Carpenters Practice Inspection report, published by the Care Quality Commission on 26 June 2021, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect on access to quality NHS primary care of any disruption resulting from the sale of GP practices to for profit providers.

Jo Churchill: Regardless of whether the contract holder is an individual, a partnership, or an organisation, all contract holders and providers of National Health Service core primary medical services are subject to the same requirements, regulation and standards. We have no plans to make a further assessment.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support people who are immunosuppressed after the easing of covid-19 restrictions on 19 July 2021.

Jo Churchill: Guidance for clinically extremely vulnerable individuals was published on 12 July and outlines support for all clinically extremely vulnerable people, including those who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed, which is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19In addition, immunosuppressed individuals are a priority cohort for research into therapeutic and prophylaxis treatments such as monoclonal antibody therapies, novel antivirals and repurposed compounds. Their general practitioner practice or specialist can also provide personalised support and advice on any additional precautions.

Radiotherapy

Olivia Blake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many radiotherapy machines currently used by the NHS are over 10 years old.

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many radiotherapy machines currently used by the NHS are more than 10 years old.

Jo Churchill: As at 31 March 2021, approximately 63 Linear Particle Accelerators (LINACs) in routine National Health Service use were aged 10 years or more. Approximately two thirds of these have a locally agreed replacement plan that is due to be implemented in 2021-22.

NHS: Software

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2021 to Question 20414 on NHS: Software, what data his Department holds on the number of new downloads of the NHS Covid-19 App in each month from January 2021.

Jo Churchill: Data on the number of daily downloads of the NHS COVID-19 app are held by the Department and since February 2021 this data has been published weekly. There have been over five million downloads of the app since January 2021 and this information is available at the following link:https://stats.app.covid19.nhs.uk/This information shows the number of unique user downloads in England and Wales. It does not include repeat downloads, such as following deletion or to multiple devices from the same user account. The trend in cumulative downloads since December 2020 is also shown.

Travel: Quarantine

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 6 July to Question 13987, what steps he has taken to centrally validate the data on the passengers entering from red list countries who have been successful in applying for exemption from the hotel quarantine requirements.

Jo Churchill: Processing the data for passengers arriving from ‘red list’ countries who are exempt from quarantine requires the collation of information from various sources depending on the relevant exemption and the number of passengers. Due to the quantity and complexity of these requests, the exemptions team is reviewing the current process and is conducting regular exercises to ensure duplication and errors are removed; improving cross team engagement and data sharing to facilitate the processing and validation of exemption cases data; implementing internal service level agreements to decrease processing time for decisions making on exemptions, enabling the data to be more easily verified; and developing an end-to-end process map and action plan to improve data quality and efficiency.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what covid-19 related powers local authorities will retain after 19 July 2021 to manage any further covid-19 outbreaks; and if he will set out which of those retained powers local authorities will (a) exercise directly and (b) need to gain authority from Government before use.

Jo Churchill: The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 3) Regulations 2020 were extended from 18 July to 27 September. The Regulations provide powers for local authorities to issue directions to place restrictions on or close businesses, events, and public outdoor places where they assess there is a serious and imminent threat to public health posed by COVID-19. We will keep these measures under continuous review to ensure that they are proportionate as part of the public health response to COVID-19. Local authorities must notify the Secretary of State when the powers are used but do not require authority from Government before use, with the exception of those related to ‘essential infrastructure’.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2021 to Question 10614 on Coronavirus: Disease Control, how representatives of industry can participate in such efficacy trials; and what steps (a) his Department and (b) the Health and Safety Executive is taking to explore the potential merits of using (i) photohydroionisation and (ii) other technologies to decontaminate single use FFP3 masks to extend their use.

Jo Churchill: At the start of 2020, a review of technologies to decontaminate single use personal protective equipment (PPE) was undertaken. UVC was among the technologies assessed as it is used for sterilisation of pathogens in other settings. However, there are no regulatory approvals for UVC in healthcare settings, so HPV was selected for the pilot phase. This pilot found HPV was not effective, so further testing was stood down.Given the resilience we have built through on-shore production of single use PPE and the piloting of reusable PPE, there are no current plans for further investigative work.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what equalities impact assessments his Department has made of plans to end covid-19 restrictions on 19 July for the protected characteristics of (a) sex, (b) maternity, (c) disability and (d) race.

Jo Churchill: The Department has produced equality analyses of the potential impact of COVID-19 restrictions to assist in decision-making. We will consider an updated equality analysis before any decisions are taken on restrictions from 19 July which will cover all protected characteristics, including sex, maternity, disability and race. This satisfies the public sector equality duty on public authorities to consider how their policies or decisions affect people who are protected under the Equality Act 2010.

NHS: Protective Clothing

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS Supply Chain’s response of 29 June 2021 to FOI Request SCCL-FOI-2021-063, which of the 16 companies set out in that FOI response that supply the NHS with rubber gloves from Malaysia receive rubber glove supplies from (a) Top Glove, (b) Supermax, (c) Brightway Holdings, (d) WRP, (e) Ansell, (f) Kossan and (g) Hartalega.

Jo Churchill: The Department has procured rubber gloves to supply the National Health Service from the following suppliers on the NHS Supply Chain Framework, sourced from the providers in the following table.SuppliersSourcesAnsell Healthcare EuropeAnsellMedicare ProductsKossanMedline Industries LtdHartelegaSupermaxSupermax

Cancer: Waiting Lists

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service, Early: Cancer Diagnosis Guidance, published on 31 March 2021, what plans the Government has to produce a long-term strategy to tackle the estimated 37,000 people who had not started their first cancer treatment.

Jo Churchill: Following the ‘Help us help you’ campaign which raised awareness of general symptoms of cancer and encouraged people experiencing persistent symptoms to contact their general practitioner, cancer referrals reached over 10,500 referrals per day in April and 11,000 per day in May. Local systems, drawing on advice and analysis from their Cancer Alliance, will ensure that there is sufficient diagnostic and treatment capacity in place to meet the increased level of referrals and treatment required to address the number of first treatments by March 2022.NHS England and NHS Improvement are prioritising delivery of NHS Long Term Plan commitments which supports recovery, such as increasing diagnostic capacity and early diagnosis and survival rates through rapid diagnostic centres (RDC). As of June 2021, there were 88 live RDC pathways across hospitals in England, compared to 12 in March 2020.

Coronavirus: Screening

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, since its introduction, how many people have participated in the daily covid-19 testing regime as an alternative to self- isolating; and how many of those people have subsequently had to self-isolate as a result of a positive test.

Jo Churchill: There are currently two ongoing clinical studies on daily COVID-19 testing as an alternative to self-isolation. The general public daily contact testing clinical study is a randomised control trial led by Public Health England, trialling at-home testing. The secondary schools and colleges daily contact testing clinical study is a randomised control trial, sponsored by the Department and Public Health England, trialling assisted on-site testing. We do not yet have the requested data, but information on the number of participants will be published once the studies have completed. The workplaces daily contact testing pilot evaluation scheme is evaluating the operational feasibility of daily contact testing in workplaces. Since the pilot began in March until 10 July, 3,596 individuals have been tested as part of the evaluation across 20 workplaces, resulting in 25 positive cases being identified.

NHS: Counter-terrorism

Sarah Owen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 June 2021 to Question 20546 on NHS: Counter-terrorism, what the (a) selection process, (b) role description and (c) balance of focus between healthcare and safeguarding is for the seven NHS England Regional Serious Violence and Contextual Safeguarding Leads.

Jo Churchill: The selection process for Regional Serious Violence and Contextual Safeguarding Leads is the established NHS England and NHS Improvement recruitment process, following fair and open procedures. The role description includes the system assurance of several statutory functions which the National Health Service is required to implement, including Prevent; female genital mutilation; modern slavery and human trafficking; tackling serious violence; preventing domestic abuse; and stopping violence against women and girls. The Regional Serious Violence and Contextual Safeguarding Leads focus on all nuances of neglect, abuse, exploitation and violence as indicated with their community safety partnerships, national crime agency data and counter terrorism reports.

Medical Records: Data Protection

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the announcement of the delay until 1 September 2021 of the implementation of the General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) service, what the new date is by which patients can opt out.

Jo Churchill: We confirmed on 19 July that data extraction will not now begin until a number of tests have been met. These include creating the technical means to allow general practitioner data that has previously been uploaded to be deleted when someone registers a type 1 opt-out. For that reason, patients will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out and the dataset will always reflect their current preference.

Primary Health Care

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the level of pressure on primary care (a) services and (b) staff, including GPs, in the context of (i) increased service demand as a result of the covid-19 outbreak and (ii) the proposed reorganisation of the NHS.

Jo Churchill: We recognise the increased pressure general practitioners (GPs) and practice staff are under, we have made an additional £270 million available for primary care services from November 2020 until September 2021. Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are also encouraged to make use of the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, representing an average of 12 to 13 additional full time equivalent members of staff in post for each PCN. GPs can now refer patients to community pharmacies which can help reduce pressures on practices.The NHS Health and Care Bill is intended to remove bureaucracy and support integration, including by supporting primary care services and more closely integrating them into integrated care systems (ICSs). The Bill builds on the National Health Service’s response to COVID-19 and reflects many of the NHS’s own requests for legislative changes. Additionally, the transfer of primary medical care commissioning to ICSs builds on existing collaborative commissioning arrangements.

Qured

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the quality of the testing service provided by Qured; how many complaints his Department has received on that company's service relating to covid-19 hotel quarantine; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Churchill: Qured has demonstrated compliance with the relevant minimum standards for their commercial provision of testing. This includes progressing through the three stage United Kingdom Accreditation Service process for providing sample collection and/or test analysis services. The Department is continuing to monitor all providers, including Qured, including assessment of their delivery, customer service and testing services.The information requested in the number of complaints is not held centrally. However, we are monitoring issues raised by the public about private test providers, raising complaints with the relevant provider.

Travel: Quarantine

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what quality assurance assessment procedure he has in place to ensure hygienic and comfort standards in covid-19 quarantine accommodation for arrivals from red-list countries.

Jo Churchill: All hotels complete a formal induction and inspection before they become available as a managed quarantine facility. Hotels have clear standard operating procedures in place, including spot checks and instructions on cleanliness, fresh linen and towels left outside of the room door every third day and provision of suitable disposable cleaning products and equipment to so guests can clean their rooms. There are provisions for guests to have personal clothes cleaned. Local liaison officers on site can deal with any issues that arise and respond to customer feedback.

Blood Cancer: Coronavirus

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that people with blood cancer are advised about (a) the level of risk covid-19 poses to them and (b) the effectiveness of covid-19 vaccines for those conditions.

Jo Churchill: There is emerging evidence that suggests that some immunocompromised and immunosuppressed individuals, which may include individuals with blood cancer, may not respond as well to COVID-19 vaccines as others. We are continuing to work to better understand who is less well protected by the vaccines and there are various studies underway looking at this issue. As new evidence emerges around vaccine efficacy, we will ensure this is communicated with affected individuals in the most appropriate way. However, all COVID-19 vaccines should offer some degree of protection and those at increased risk should receive both doses to optimise protection. As restrictions were eased on 19 July, it is now appropriate to return to tailored risk advice for those who are clinically extremely vulnerable, with conditions such as blood cancer, from their general practitioner practice or specialist if they have any concerns.

NHS: Arts

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the use of creative arts therapy for NHS treatments.

Jo Churchill: There are no plans to do so.

Medical Records: Data Protection

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with the devolved Administrations to ensure that NHS data is protected; and whether GP surgeries will be in contact with their patients to offer an opt out option from the sharing of their data.

Jo Churchill: The General Practice Data for Planning and Research programme’s scope covers England only.We are working with general practitioners (GPs) to effectively communicate the benefits of this new data collection and the ability of patients to opt-out if they choose to do so. We are developing an engagement and communications campaign to ensure that the healthcare system and patients are aware and understand what is planned.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the lifting of covid-19 restrictions on 19 July 2021 on people (a) with a weakened immune system, (b) with blood cancer and (c) who are medically unable to take the covid-19 vaccines.

Jo Churchill: While no specific assessment has been made, a recent study from Public Health England looked at more than one million people in at-risk groups, which found that people who are immunosuppressed are significantly better protected from symptomatic infection following the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Studies are also underway looking at which groups are less protected through vaccination, which may include groups with weakened immune systems and those with cancers of the blood. The findings will improve our knowledge of the levels of risk. We also recognise that there is a very small group of people who cannot receive the Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.

Medical Treatments

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NICE technology appraisals have been delayed as a result of operational challenges in 2021; and if he will place in the Library a list of the affected appraisals.

Jo Churchill: The 19 topics listed as follows have been delayed as a result of operational challenges in 2021. - Tuberous sclerosis complex (seizures) – cannabidiol;- Waldenstrom's macroglobulinaemia – zanubrutinib;- Head and neck cancer (untreated, metastatic squamous cell) - nivolumab (with ipilimumab);- Breast cancer (triple negative) - pembrolizumab (neoadjuvant, with chemotherapy);- Renal cell carcinoma (metastatic, untreated) - nivolumab (with cabozantinib);- Multiple sclerosis (relapsing-remitting) - diroximel fumarate;- Upadacitinib for treating active psoriatic arthritis after inadequate response to disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs);- Gastric cancer (resect) - pembrolizumab (with chemotherapy and surgery);- Dermatitis (atopic, moderate, severe, aged 12 and over) – upadacitinib;- Tralokinumab for treating moderate to severe atopic dermatitis;- Dermatitis (atopic, moderate, severe, aged 12 and over) – abrocitinib;- Cough (refractory, chronic) – gefapixant;- Renal cell carcinoma - pembrolizumab (adjuvant);- Polyps (nasal), rhinosinusitis (chronic, severe) – mepolizumab;- Ulcerative colitis (moderate, severe) – ozanimod;- Ankylosing spondylitis (active) – upadacitinib;- Lung cancer (non-small-cell, resected) - atezolizumab (adjuvant);- Ankylosing spondylitis (active) – tofacitinib; and- Hepatocellular carcinoma (advanced, treated) - cabozantinib (review of technology appraisal 582).

Travel: Quarantine

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of CTM's performance in dealing with complaints on the operation of the quarantine hotel booking service.

Jo Churchill: Whilst there has not been a formal assessment of Corporate Travel Management’s (CTM) complaint’s process, the Managed Quarantine Service has weekly meetings with CTM’s senior leadership where operational performance issues are discussed and escalated as appropriate. Performance against the contract is managed and assessed according to the terms of the contract. Overall performance, including in relation to complaints, is discussed regularly between Departmental officials and CTM and any areas that need improvement are addressed.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on covid-19 risk for immunocompromised people after the planned easing of covid-19 restrictions on July 19 2021.

Jo Churchill: While no specific assessment has been made, a recent study from Public Health England looked at more than one million people in at-risk groups, which found that people who are immunosuppressed are significantly better protected from symptomatic infection following the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.  Studies are also underway looking at which groups are less protected through vaccination, which may include groups with weakened immune systems and those with cancers of the blood. The findings will improve our knowledge of the levels of risk. We also recognise that there is a very small group of people who cannot receive the Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.

Babylon Health

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a list of (a) all meetings between (i) the Secretary of State and (ii) health ministers and the private health care provider Babylon and (b) all social and other events organised by Babylon that were attended by (A) the Secretary of State and (B) one or more health ministers since June 2019.

Jo Churchill: Since June 2019, there has been one external event attended by the former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Rt hon. Matt Hancock MP) where Babylon Health Care, alongside other organisations, was also in attendance.

Business Travel: Coronavirus

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support he is making available to British citizens who are having to travel through covid-19 amber list countries to re-enter the UK for business purposes.

Jo Churchill: From 19 July, arrivals from ‘amber list’ countries who have been fully vaccinated through the United Kingdom vaccination programme do not have to quarantine or take a day eight test after arrival in England. Those who are not fully vaccinated and are returning from ‘amber list’ countries currently must quarantine for 10 days at home and take a polymerase chain reaction test on or before day two and after day eight. They also have the option to end quarantine early on day five, following a negative test result.

Coronavirus: Contracts

Neale Hanvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of covid-19 related public procurement contracts were awarded using emergency contracting procedures; and what the total value of those contracts is.

Neale Hanvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish details of the (a) individual covid-19 related public procurement contracts which were awarded using emergency contracting procedures, (b) value of each of those contracts and (c) purpose for which each of those contracts was awarded in each month since March 2020.

Edward Argar: Regulation 32(2)(c) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 allows for the direct award of a contract without advertising in cases of “extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting authority”. The majority of COVID-19 related contracts were awarded using this Regulation. However, to obtain the information requested incur disproportionate cost. The Department’s data does not distinguish between the use of this Regulation and other procedures under the Regulations which also allow for a direct award.

Health Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with local health leaders on the capacity of local health systems in (a) primary and (b) secondary care.

Edward Argar: The Department continues to engage with local health leaders, regional commissioners and NHS England and NHS Improvement to manage capacity in primary and secondary care. Through its regional team, NHS England and NHS Improvement work closely with clinical commissioning groups who are best placed to engage and support their local health systems on issues such as capacity.

Hospital Beds

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the statement of the Minister for Covid Vaccine Deployment, Official report, column 259, and the letter from the. Member for Tatton dated 24 June 2021, how many more (a) intensive care beds and (b) non-intensive care beds were available throughout the NHS in (i) March 2020 and (ii) 19 July 2021.

Edward Argar: This information is not available in the format requested.Hospital capacity has been organised in new ways due to the pandemic to meet the enhanced infection prevention and control measures. This results in beds and staff being deployed differently from in previous years in both emergency and elective settings within the hospital.

Gender Recognition: Surgery

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure a contract for trans masculine genital surgery is secured as quickly as possible.

Jo Churchill: The contract for phalloplasty services is currently out for tender with a view for rapid award.

Gender Recognition: Surgery

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect on the (a) health and (b) wellbeing of trans masculine people of the unavailability of genital surgery on the NHS for those people.

Jo Churchill: No formal assessment of the unavailability of genital surgery has been undertaken.

Gender Recognition: Surgery

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will commit to providing funding for trans masculine people to have genital surgery abroad until the NHS provides a UK provider.

Jo Churchill: There are no current plans for patients to be sent abroad for phalloplasty services. The contract for phalloplasty services is currently out for tender with a view for rapid award in the near future.

Gender Recognition: Clinics

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the length of time between people being referred to a Gender Identity Clinic and starting treatment.

Jo Churchill: No formal assessment has been made as waiting time information is not collected centrally.

Dermatitis: Waiting Lists

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in average waiting times for atopic eczema patients accessing dermatology services; and what plans he has to improve access to those services.

Jo Churchill: No specific assessment has been made. We have provided an additional £1 billion to improve patient access and accelerate the recovery of elective services, including dermatology.

Abortion: Drugs

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which external organisations his Department is working with and in what capacity, to assess the efficacy of continuing the practice of early medical abortions by post; which of those organisations have a financial interest in providing abortion services; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Whately: The Government committed to undertake a public consultation on whether to make permanent the temporary measure allowing for home use of both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks gestation for all eligible women. The consultation has now closed and we will be considering all evidence submitted and plan to publish our response later this year.An external company is contracted by the Department to undertake independent analysis of consultation responses. They are supporting the impartial analysis of responses to the consultation on the temporary approval.

Department for Education

Curriculum: Sign Language

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing students to study British Sign Language as a language option in Key Stage 3.

Nick Gibb: The Government has recognised British Sign Language (BSL) as a language since 2003. BSL is not a compulsory part of the National Curriculum, although schools are free to offer BSL as part of their wider school curriculum or as part of a varied programme of extra-curricular activities. Some schools may also offer accredited BSL qualifications to support pupils' achievements in the language. ​The Department is aiming to introduce a GCSE in BSL as soon as possible, provided it meets the rigorous requirements that apply to all GCSEs. Officials are currently working closely with subject experts and Ofqual to develop draft subject content. The Department plans to consult publicly in due course. Officials are also engaging with Ofqual to ensure the subject content can be assessed appropriately and will be working with stakeholders to ensure that a wide range of views is reflected.

Condition Improvement Fund

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to support specialist post-16 institutions to access the Condition Improvement Fund.

Nick Gibb: The Department allocates condition funding each year to schools and those responsible for school buildings to maintain and improve the condition of their estates. We have allocated £11.3 billion in condition funding since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed in the financial year 2021/22.Schools and other eligible institutions access funding through different routes depending on their size and type. The per pupil amount of funding available is calculated using the same funding formula.Local authorities, larger multi-academy trusts and large voluntary-aided (VA) school bodies receive an annual School Condition Allocation (SCA) to invest in capital maintenance and upgrades across the schools for which they are responsible.Smaller multi-academy, or stand-alone trusts, VA schools not part of large VA school bodies, and sixth form colleges are instead able to bid to the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) each year.Special post-16 institutions (SPIs), with students funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, are eligible for condition funding, which they access through an annual SCA, rather than bidding to the CIF.All schools, including eligible SPIs, also receive funding to spend on their capital priorities through an annual Devolved Formula Capital allocation.Capital allocations are published on GOV.UK.

Mathematics: Higher Education

Christian Wakeford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it is his policy to increase the funding available for students taking pure mathematics at university.

Michelle Donelan: In January 2021, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, asked the Office for Students (OfS) to reform the Strategic Priorities Grant for academic year 2021/22. The OfS consulted on the Secretary of State for Education’s proposals and has recently published its conclusions. The consultation responses were carefully analysed, and the issues raised were considered by both the OfS and the Secretary of State for Education in reaching their respective decisions about the allocation of the Strategic Priorities Grant in 2021/22.Mathematics is in price group C2 of the Strategic Priorities Grant and therefore does not receive a high-cost subject funding top-up.Funding for future years will be subject to the Spending Review.

Educational Institutions: Coronavirus

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to review the self-isolation requirements in educational settings before the new school year.

Nick Gibb: In line with Step 4 of the roadmap, nurseries, schools, and colleges are no longer routinely required to undertake contact tracing for pupils and staff. Instead, those who test positive will be subject to the normal test and trace process, which will identify close contacts.From 16 August 2021, children under the age of 18 years old, and staff who are fully vaccinated, will no longer be required to self-isolate if they are contacted by NHS Test and Trace as a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case. Instead, they will be advised to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. The Department encourages all individuals to take a PCR test if advised to do so.18 year-olds will be treated in the same way as children up until four months after their 18th birthday to allow them the opportunity to get fully vaccinated, at which point they will be subject to the same rules as adults. Therefore, if they choose not to get vaccinated, they will need to self-isolate if identified as a close contact.Nurseries, schools, and colleges will continue to have a role in working with health protection teams in the case of a local outbreak. If there is a COVID-19 outbreak or if central Government offers the area an enhanced response package, a director of public health might advise a nursery, school or college to temporarily reintroduce some control measures.

Holiday Activities and Food Programme

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2021 to Question 28129 on Holiday Activities and Food Programme, what the evidential basis is of the four hours a day, four days a week, for four weeks aspiration for holiday provision; and whether periods of longer than 4:4:4 were monitored.

Vicky Ford: Our holiday activities and food (HAF) programme guidance sets out our aim that children eligible for and in receipt of free school meals should be able to access free holiday clubs for the equivalent of at least 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, and 6 weeks a year. We have made it clear that local authorities and their providers will have flexibility in how they deliver this provision to best serve the needs of children and families in their area, for example, in considering how the programme can be most effectively delivered to older children.We piloted the HAF programme in the summer holidays between 2018 and 2020 to build our knowledge. The 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, and 6 weeks a year model referenced was part of the framework of standards established based on insight from providers. The approach enables local authorities across the country to offer good coverage, high quality, but flexible provision. We know that many local authorities are choosing to offer provision that goes beyond this.Through our investment of up to £220 million this year, including £1,491,000 in Sunderland, we are supporting children and families across the country this summer. We are monitoring the scheme closely, and we have an independent evaluator in place to ensure we continue to learn what works well.

Apprentices

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage employers to take on more apprentices.

Gillian Keegan: In the 2021-22 financial year, funding available for investment in apprenticeships in England will remain around £2.5 billion - double that spent in 2010-11 financial year, supporting employers of all sizes to offer apprenticeships.We are supporting employers to offer new apprenticeship opportunities by offering a higher incentive payment of £3,000 for every new apprentice hired between 1 April and 30 September 2021 as part of the government's Plan for Jobs. We have seen over 71,000 incentive payments claimed by employers so far (as of 8 June).We continue to improve apprenticeships by making them more flexible and making it easier for employers to make full use of their levy funds. We are developing and encouraging innovative apprenticeships training models, such as the front-loading of off-the-job training and accelerated apprenticeships. These models support apprentices to be effective in their role and accelerate their progression and completion. We will also shortly launch a £7 million fund to help employers set up and expand flexi-job apprenticeship schemes, enabling people to work across multiple projects with different employers and benefit from the high-quality long-term training that an apprenticeship provides.Levy-paying employers can already transfer up to 25% of their annual funds to support apprenticeships in their supply chains or to meet local skills needs. In August 2021, we will make the transfer of levy funds to small and medium-sized enterprises easier by launching an online matching service, whereby levy payers will be able to pledge funds for transfer and create more apprenticeship opportunities in their supply chain, sector or region.

Pre-school Education: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional support he plans to provide for nursery schools closed since 21 June 2021 as a result of levels of covid-19 infection or self-isolation.

Vicky Ford: The government wants to support nurseries, pre-schools and childminders during this uncertain time, which is why we have spent over £3.5 billion in each of the past 3 years on our early education entitlements, and have invested £44 million for the 2021/22 financial year, for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers.For the 2021/22 financial year, we have also increased the hourly funding rates for all local authorities by 8p an hour for the 2-year-old entitlement and, for the vast majority of areas, by 6p an hour for the 3-year-old and 4-year-old entitlement. This will pay for a rate increase that is higher than the costs that nurseries may face from the uplift to the national living wage in April. We have also increased the minimum funding floor, meaning no council can receive less than £4.44 per hour for the 3-year-old and 4-year-old entitlements.As with other sectors, the COVID-19 outbreak has been an uncertain time for childcare providers. Our policy is to ensure that there are sufficient childcare places to meet demand from parents. Despite the level of uncertainty faced by providers over the COVID-19 outbreak, Ofsted data shows that as of 31 March 2021, the number of childcare places, offered by providers on the Early Years Register, has remained broadly stable since August 2015.We have provided unprecedented support to early years providers during the COVID-19 outbreak, and settings have also had access to a range of business support packages, including the extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. As long as the staff in the nursery schools affected meet the criteria for the scheme, early years providers are still able to furlough their staff while that scheme remains in operation (for example, if settings have to close temporarily to manage local effects of COVID-19, such as infections).Findings from the Childcare and Early Years Provider and Coronavirus survey have shown that, in November/December 2020, 74% of group-based providers have made use of the Furlough Scheme at any point. Findings of this survey can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/survey-of-childcare-and-early-years-providers-and-coronavirus-covid-19-wave-3.Eligible nurseries may also have qualified for a business rates discount to help reduce the costs of their business rates bills during the COVID-19 outbreak. Eligible nurseries could get 100% off in the first 3 months of the 2021 to 2022 tax year, with 66% off for the rest of the 2021 to 2022 tax year which may help providers who have had a reduced income as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.Additionally, eligible nurseries have been able to access recovery loans to help with access to loans and other types of finance, so that they can recover after the COVID-19 outbreak and transition period.We liaise regularly with local authorities, and they have not reported to us a significant number of parents unable to secure a childcare place, either during this term or at any time since early years settings re-opened fully on 1 June 2020. Where parents have been unable to temporarily secure a childcare place (for example, due to their usual setting being temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak), this has been able to be quickly resolved locally, and local authorities are not reporting significant sufficiency of supply issues.We continue to work with local authorities and the sector to ensure there is sufficient, safe and affordable childcare for those who need it most.

Special Educational Needs

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to support local authorities to meet their statutory targets for Education, Health and Care plan assessment waiting times.

Vicky Ford: The special educational needs and disability (SEND) code of practice makes clear that local authorities must give their decision in response to any request for an education, health and care needs assessment within a maximum of 6 weeks from when the request was received or the point at which a child or young person was brought to the local authority’s attention.We have been using data to provide challenge and support to those local authorities where there are long-standing delays. Additionally, because of circumstances relating to the COVID-19 outbreak, we are carrying out monthly surveys of local authority performance. Our teams of SEND Advisers, and colleagues in NHS England, are working with local authorities to help improve performance. Each year, we also deliver a training programme to local authorities, health, and social care staff on their statutory duties for education, health and care plans and reviews, and we have continued to do this on a virtual basis.Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) re-started their revisit programme to areas that received a Written Statement of Action in May, with the full inspection programme re-starting in June. We are continuing to provide support and challenge to individual local authorities with a Written Statement of Action. We have commissioned the CQC and Ofsted, with the support of the Department of Health and Social Care, to develop a new area SEND inspection framework to launch after the existing cycle has finished.Furthermore, we are providing over £42 million in the 2021/22 financial year to continue funding projects to support children with SEND. This investment will ensure that specialist organisations around the country can continue to help strengthen local area performance, support families, and provide practical support to schools and colleges.

Pupils: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will provide additional catch-up educational support for days missed at school as a result of the covid-19 outbreak since 21 June 2021.

Nick Gibb: Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department has provided extensive support for schools and acted swiftly to help minimise the effect on pupils’ education. Being in school is vital for pupils’ education, wellbeing, and development, and the Department has kept schools open for as long as possible whilst managing the spread of COVID-19.Since June 2020, the Department has announced more than £3 billion to support education recovery which will help in closing gaps that have emerged. This includes over £900 million that schools can use as they see best to support the children and young people who have been most affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.The Government is committed to an ambitious, long term education recovery plan and the next stage will include a review of time spent in school and college, and the effect this could have on helping children and young people to catch up. The findings of the review will be set out later in the year to inform the Spending Review. The Department will also continue to consider what steps we need to take to support children and young people to catch up following our latest education recovery announcement on 2 June 2021.

Social Services: Children

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will hold discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on increasing annual spending on children’s services ahead of the next Spending Review.

Vicky Ford: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, and his department discuss a range of issues, including children’s services funding with my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as well as the HM Treasury and other government departments on a regular basis.

Training: Environment Protection

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to introduce a fully funded re-training programme to support people to re-train in new jobs in response to the transition to a green economy.

Gillian Keegan: In November 2020, the government established the Green Jobs Taskforce, comprising individuals from industry, academia, unions and the education and skills sector. It was tasked with assembling evidence on the skills needed in the green economy and setting out independent recommendations for how government, industry and a wide range of stakeholders might work together to meet the green skills challenge and grasp the opportunities presented by the transition to net zero.The taskforce’s final report was published on 14 July. We will consider its recommendations carefully ahead of setting out, later in the year, our Net Zero Strategy.In England, the reforms to the skills system set out in the recently published Skills for Jobs white paper provide the foundation on which we can build. This programme of reform, which places employers at the centre of our technical education system, includes the introduction of new T Levels, flexible apprenticeships, Skills Bootcamps and occupational traineeships. Earlier in the year, we marked a major milestone in the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, with the rollout of almost 400 qualifications which are now available and fully funded for any adult who has not already achieved a level 3 (A level equivalent) qualification. We will ensure that these programmes include supporting more people to get the skills they need to move into green jobs and consider where we might need to go further or faster to fill identified skills gaps.We are already making progress. The Skills Bootcamps will, from July this year, support flexible training in key green sectors such as construction and nuclear. A Green Apprenticeship Advisory Panel is identifying existing apprenticeships that best support green career pathways and our Free Courses for Jobs offer is supporting more adults to study fully funded qualifications in subject areas crucial for green jobs, such as construction, forestry and engineering. The new Emerging Skills Electrification Project will foresight cutting-edge skills in the battery/electrification sector, develop short, modular content to meet the needs of employers and upskill the teaching workforce.

Children: York

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have had to isolate in York since the lifting of restrictions on 21 June 2021.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the (a) average and (b) total number of missed school days by children as a result of the covid-19 outbreak in York since 21 June 2021.

Nick Gibb: National data on the attendance of pupils during the COVID-19 outbreak is published weekly at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. Data at local authority level for the period since 21 June 2021 is scheduled to be published on 27 July. It is not possible to determine the number of children that have had to isolate since 21 June 2021, as individual child level data is not available.

Ministry of Justice

Powers of Attorney: Repayments

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to notify all those entitled to refunds for overcharged deputyship fees in advance of closing the refund scheme in October 2022.

Chris Philp: Information about the deputyship refund scheme is currently available on Gov.UK. Although this information will be removed in October 2022, the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) will still accept applications after this date.Eligible customers who were still receiving supervision received their refund automatically from OPG.It is not OPGs intention to contact customers who are no longer under supervision, as in most cases such customers are likely to have died or changed address, in which case it is for the executors or representatives of the estate to apply for a refund. OPG ran an awareness campaign to encourage customers no longer under supervision to apply for a refund.

Powers of Attorney: Repayments

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many refunds went unclaimed for power of attorney fees overcharged by the Office of the Public Guardian when the refund scheme closed on 31 January 2021.

Chris Philp: The LPA refund scheme officially ran from 1 February 2018 to 31 January 2021, however OPG are still accepting written requests for a refund from customers. The online application form is no longer in use and OPG are no longer advertising the scheme. As of June 2021, £16,463,993.76 worth of refunds have been made and 324,937 claims have been received.

Treasury

Carbon Emissions: Taxation

Luke Pollard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to introduce a carbon tax for carbon intensive food imports.

Kemi Badenoch: As a global leader on decarbonisation, the UK recognises the importance of ensuring that policy interventions to cut domestic emissions do not lead to increased emissions elsewhere. A range of approaches could potentially help to address this risk, of which carbon border adjustment mechanisms are one. However, it is important any policy complies with our international obligations, including under the World Trade Organization and our Free Trade Agreements. Treasury ministers and officials are in regular contact with colleagues across the government on all matters related to the Net Zero transition.

Treasury: Email

Cat Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he or any of the Ministers of his Department use personal email addresses to conduct Government business.

Kemi Badenoch: I refer the Hon. Member to the Cabinet Office guidance to departments on use of private emails (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-departments-on-private-email-use). This states that civil servants and Ministers are generally provided with access to Government email systems. Other forms of electronic communication may be used in the course of conducting Government business, in line with security and record-keeping requirements.

Armed Forces: Transport

Taiwo Owatemi: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse was of his use of military transport between Birmingham and RAF Northolt.

Kemi Badenoch: The Treasury makes payments to suppliers, including other government departments, in line with published policies. The Treasury’s performance against these policies and further detail can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/search/transparency-and-freedom-of-information-releases?organisations%5B%5D=hm-treasury&parent=hm-treasury.

Bank Services

Drew Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made on (a) whether HMRC guidance issued in relation to the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) complies with GDPR legislation and (b) the proportionality of the application of FACTA for joint accounts where UK nationals are not subject to FACTA rules.

Jesse Norman: HMRC have assessed that their FATCA guidance is GDPR compliant.It is proportionate to report a joint account under FATCA because a US citizen or resident is an account holder. The name and other details of any joint account holder who is not a US citizen or resident are not reportable.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Chris Grayling: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the impact of the stamp duty holiday on revenues from stamp duty.

Jesse Norman: The latest estimate for revenue impact of the Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday, including the extension at the Spring Budget 2021, has been published by the NAO in their COVID-19 cost tracker. https://www.nao.org.uk/covid-19/cost-tracker/

Civil Service: Pay

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraphs 3.2 and 4.1 of the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance 2020-21, published by the Cabinet Office on 18 May 2020, which elements of the HM Revenue and Customs pay business case for years 2020-21 to 2022-23 have been disclosed to its recognised trade unions.

Jesse Norman: HMRC have collectively agreed their pay and working arrangement reforms with their recognised departmental unions, ARC and PCS. Union members voted in favour for HMRC’s pay and contract reform offer and HMRC have started to implement reforms. HMRC conducted an intensive period of negotiations with trade unions to reach the collectively agreed position, based on proposals set out in the original business case. The final position agreed during these talks was then put to union members at Trade Union organised ballots, where it was strongly supported.

Civil Service: Pay

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 4.1 of the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance 2020-21 published by the Cabinet Office on 18 May 2020, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of HM Revenue and Customs' work with its recognised trade unions on the development of its pay business case for years 2020-21 to 2022-23.

Jesse Norman: The Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance 2020-21 encourages departments to work constructively with trade unions on the development of their overall pay, reward and workforce strategies as a matter of course. HMRC have followed the Cabinet Office procedure for pay cases including conducting formal negotiations with trade unions in late 2020. The outcome was a pay settlement agreed with trade unions and endorsed by Union members in a series of ballots held in February 2021.

Debts Written Off: Developing Countries

Helen Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what (a) assessment he has made of the potential merits of cancelling debt for low income countries to help them prepare for the effects of climate change and (b) discussions he is having with private financial institutions on this issue.

John Glen: Tackling climate change is a key priority for the UK. Holding the G7 and COP26 Presidencies this year, the UK is seeking to increase global climate action and help to deliver the long-term transition to a net zero, resilient and environmentally sustainable global economy. We recognise that governments’ existing fiscal pressures have been exacerbated by the pandemic, impacting countries’ abilities to pursue their development priorities, including the increasingly urgent and evident issues of climate change and biodiversity loss. The UK has committed to double our International Climate Finance to at least £11.6bn between 2021 and 2025, and we are working with partners to ensure the wider $100bn target is met in June. G7 Finance Ministers committed to increase and improve our climate finance contributions through to 2025, including increasing adaptation finance and finance for nature-based solutions. We are also pushing for action on debt sustainability as constrained fiscal space and debt vulnerabilities can frustrate efforts to invest in climate action. That is why the UK fully supports the extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative to the end of 2021 and is committed to the success of the G20’s Common Framework. Under the Common Framework, private sector creditors will be required to implement debt restructurings on at least as favourable terms as official creditors. We regularly work with our international partners in the G7, G20 and Paris Club on debt issues, including private sector participation in debt restructurings. We also engage with the private sector through the Institute of International Finance (IIF) at Paris Club meetings.

Bank Services: Coronavirus

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the changes by the major banks to interest charges on personal overdrafts relative to levels before the covid-19 outbreak.

John Glen: The pricing of financial products, including the interest rates charged on overdrafts, is a commercial decision for firms and the Government does not seek to intervene in, or make assessments of, such decisions. In April 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) required firms to have implemented new rules governing how they can charge for overdrafts. These included mandating that firms cannot charge more for unarranged overdrafts than arranged overdrafts, banning fixed daily and monthly charges, and a package of measures to improve the transparency of pricing. FCA analysis found that 7 out of 10 overdraft users would be better off or see no change to their overdraft costs as a result of the FCA’s rules. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the FCA announced a series of temporary proposals to provide emergency support for consumer credit customers who were facing short-term cash flow problems as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. On overdrafts, firms were expected to provide up to £500 interest free buffer for customers, if requested, and make sure that customers did not see increased overdraft fees. In September 2020, the FCA announced updated guidance to ensure that firms continued to provide tailored support for users of consumer credit and overdraft products who continue to face payment difficulties due to Covid-19. Where a customer needs further support, firms are expected to use measures such as reducing or waiving interest, agreeing a programme of staged reductions in the overdraft limit, or supporting customers to reduce their overdraft usage by transferring the debt. In 2022, the FCA will carry out a post-implementation evaluation of the remedies it introduced on overdrafts.

Nuclear Power: Carbon Emissions

Henry Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will review the exclusion of nuclear energy from the Green Financing Framework with respect to the (a) inclusion in the International Capital Markets Association Green Bonds Principles of nuclear energy and (b) exclusion of nuclear energy from the Government’s Green Financing Framework which has been developed in accordance with the former principles.

John Glen: The government recognises that reaching net zero emissions by 2050 will require power to be generated from low carbon sources. As set out in the Government’s Energy White Paper last autumn, nuclear power will play an important role in achieving net zero.  Nuclear energy is excluded from the UK Government Green Financing Framework, which is in line with current international market standards for sovereign green bonds. The Green Bond Principles published by the International Capital Market Association do not address the question of nuclear energy. All other major sovereigns have explicitly excluded nuclear energy in their green bond frameworks.The Government is developing a UK green taxonomy, which will create a shared understanding of which economic activities count as environmentally sustainable and will establish an Energy Working Group to provide expert advice on the treatment of energy in the taxonomy, including nuclear power. We will review the framework on a regular basis with the aim of adhering to best practices in the market.

Brexit: Costs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate his Department has made of the final cost to the public purse of implementing the Withdrawal Agreement and the UK’s departure from the EU; and if he will make statement.

Steve Barclay: I laid the “European Union Finances 2020: statement on the 2020 EU Budget and measures to counter fraud and financial mismanagement” (CP472) on 15 July 2020.Annex E details the costs of implementing the Withdrawal Agreement and the financial settlement. HM Treasury estimate that the current value of the financial settlement is £37.3bn. This remains within the Government’s previously published reasonable central range, adjusted to take into account the UK’s 31 January 2020 exit date.

Social Services: Finance

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the finding of the Disabled Children’s Partnerships report, Left Behind, published 16 July 2021, that over half of local authorities have failed to meet their targets for providing Education, Health and Care plan assessments, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on increasing long-term funding for disabled children’s social care services.

Steve Barclay: HM Treasury Ministers regularly meet with other government departments and a range of stakeholders, which includes discussions around support for disabled children and young people. To support local areas, the government has given over £6 billion in un-ringfenced funding directly to councils to support them with the immediate and longer-term impacts of COVID-19 spending pressures, including children’s services. At last year’s Spending Review, we provided councils with access to over £1bn of spending for social care through £300m of new social care grant and the ability to introduce a 3% adult social care precept. This funding was additional to the £1 billion social care grant announced in 2019 which was maintained in line with the government's manifesto. We are also increasing education funding for children with complex special educational needs and disabilities by nearly a quarter in two years, to £8 billion this year. We will continue to work with other government departments, including Department for Education and the Ministry of Housing, Communities &Local Government, to ensure the upcoming Spending Review reflects the needs of children’s social care services.

SME Brexit Support Fund

Hilary Benn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the (a) total number of applications made by businesses to the SME Brexit Support Fund, (b) number of grants that have been approved, and (c) total amount of funding in grants provided to date for each region of the UK.

Jesse Norman: As of 19 July 2021, 5,414 businesses completed applications for grants of up to £2,000. Of this number, 4,376 have been offered a grant. A regional breakdown of the figures shows that businesses in England have been offered £5,862,213, in Scotland £387,387, in Wales £196,546 and in Northern Ireland £360,174.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Commonwealth: Embassies

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of flying commonwealth flags from motor vehicles in addition to the flag of the High Commission representative concerned on UK missions in Commonwealth countries.

Nigel Adams: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have considered the merits of displaying the Commonwealth flag on British High Commissioners' official vehicles. These vehicles will continue to display the Union flag only.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Flags

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, who is responsible for his Department's policy on flying flags from his Department's buildings.

Nigel Adams: The Secretary of State and Permanent under Secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office are responsible for FCDO policy on flying flags.

Afghanistan: Taliban

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government has made an assessment of the likelihood of resurgence of the Taliban as a result of the withdrawal of UK and coalition troops.

Nigel Adams: The Prime Minister spoke to President Ghani on 17 June to reaffirm the UK's commitment to supporting Afghanistan to achieve a stable and democratic future following the withdrawal of NATO troops. We will back Afghanistan through our diplomatic and development work and assistance to the security sector. The security situation in Afghanistan remains serious. There is no military route for the Taliban to achieve their goals; if they wish to play a political role in a more stable and secure Afghanistan, they must engage meaningfully in the peace talks. The UK supports the international efforts to energise the Afghan peace process and to promote regional cooperation and stability.

Afghanistan: Taliban

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the risk posed by the Taliban to the UK-backed coalition Afghan Government after the withdrawal of UK armed forces from that country.

Nigel Adams: The Prime Minister spoke to President Ghani on 17 June to reaffirm the UK's commitment to supporting Afghanistan to achieve a stable and democratic future following the withdrawal of NATO troops. We will back Afghanistan through our diplomatic and development work and assistance to the security sector. The security situation in Afghanistan remains serious. There is no military route for the Taliban to achieve their goals; if they wish to play a political role in a more stable and secure Afghanistan, they must engage meaningfully in the peace talks. The UK supports the international efforts to energise the Afghan peace process and to promote regional cooperation and stability.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethnic Groups

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many Black and ethnic minority staff are employed by his Department.

Nigel Adams: As of 31 March 2021, 17.67% of UK Based Staff in the FCDO self-identified as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic. We do not currently have the data for our Country Based Staff.

Developing Countries: Food Supply

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the impact of reductions in the Official Development Assistance budget on his Department’s ability to tackle hunger and famine.

Nigel Adams: The UK economy is facing the worst economic contraction in over 300 years. Our borrowing is the highest it has been outside of wartime. Against this backdrop, we have been forced to prioritise public spending, including temporarily reducing the ODA spend from 0.7% of GNI to 0.5%. FCDO allocates our aid budget in accordance with UK strategic priorities, and to remain a force for good across the world. Our aid is targeted at the highest priority global challenges and the Foreign Secretary has been clear that poverty reduction remains at the heart of UK ODA.The number of people requiring humanitarian assistance this year is at a record high, with acute food insecurity and malnutrition also rising. Preventing famine is a key priority for FCDO, as evidenced by the launch of the Foreign Secretary's Call to Action in September 2020. But this is not only about money. It is also about diplomatic action, smarter financing and more effective responses to crises. The UK will combine our funding with our diplomatic strength and world-leading aid expertise to protect people across the world from increasing risk of famine.

Afghanistan: Armed Conflict

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an estimate of the number of civilians who have been killed in conflict in Afghanistan in (a) the six months prior to the withdrawal of NATO coalition troops from Afghanistan and (b) since those troops were withdrawn from that country.

Nigel Adams: The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) publishes quarterly reports on civilian casualties. The most recent documented 1,783 civilian casualties (573 killed and 1,210 injured). The UK remains committed to supporting Afghanistan on its path to a more peaceful and positive future and strongly supports efforts to energise the Afghan peace process. Only a negotiated and inclusive political settlement will bring sustainable peace.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential (a) geostrategic and (b) geopolitical merits of the UK's withdrawal from Afghanistan for (i) national defence, (ii) international stability and (iii) democracy in Afghanistan.

Nigel Adams: Our primary objective when we deployed to Afghanistan 20 years ago was to ensure that it wasn't used as a base for international terrorism. There has not been a successful international terrorist attack on the West mounted from Afghanistan since. Those countries who were brave enough to send their Armed Forces to serve in Afghanistan enabled the progress that was made across the country as a whole. Afghanistan now has a burgeoning civil society, with a free press and an education system. Compared to 2001, 8.2 million more children are now in school. Life expectancy has increased from 56 years (2002) to 64 (2018). Maternal mortality has almost halved and infant mortality has decreased faster than any low-income country since 2001. Under the Taliban, women were excluded from governance; today women hold over a quarter of the seats in Afghanistan's parliament. As the Prime Minister said on 8 July, the international military presence was never intended to be permanent. The UK remains committed to supporting Afghanistan on its path to a more peaceful and positive future and strongly supports efforts to energise the Afghan peace process. Only a negotiated and inclusive settlement will bring sustainable peace.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Flags

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of giving greater prominence to the Commonwealth flag in its policy on flying flags from his Department 's buildings.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of flying the Commonwealth Flag from its building all year round on relationships between the UK and other Commonwealth countries.

Nigel Adams: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) have considered the merits of flying the Commonwealth flag. The FCDO will fly the Commonwealth flag for a week in March 2022 to mark Commonwealth Day, as well as for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. It is not our practice to fly on a permanent basis the flags of organisations of which the UK is a member.

Diplomatic Service: Flags

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of including the flag of the Consular Officers afloat in his Department's flag flying policy.

Nigel Adams: It is Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) policy for British Consular Posts in foreign countries to fly the Consular flag. The FCDO does not use the Consular Officers Afloat flag.

Afghanistan: NATO

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of effect of the withdrawal of UK armed forces troops from the NATO mission in Afghanistan on the (a) political and (b) security situation in that country.

Nigel Adams: The Prime Minister spoke to President Ghani on 17 June to reaffirm the UK's commitment to supporting Afghanistan to achieve a stable and democratic future following the withdrawal of NATO troops. We will back Afghanistan through our diplomatic and development work and assistance to the security sector. The security situation in Afghanistan remains serious. There is no military route for the Taliban to achieve their goals; if they wish to play a political role in a more stable and secure Afghanistan, they must engage meaningfully in the peace talks. The UK supports the international efforts to energise the Afghan peace process and to promote regional cooperation and stability.

China: Uighurs

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he has taken to review the effectiveness of the sanctions he has applied to China in response to the persecution of the Uyghur Muslim community.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what (a) plans he has to increase and (b) criteria he uses to assess the effectiveness of sanctions against China in response to the persecution of the Uyghur Muslim community.

Nigel Adams: The sanctions announced by the Foreign Secretary in March imposed asset freezes and travel bans on four senior Chinese officials and one entity responsible for the egregious human rights violations taking place in Xinjiang. By acting with 29 other countries on an agreed set of designations, we increased the reach and impact of these measures and sent the clearest possible signal of the international community's serious concern and collective willingness to act. Sanctions remain one response among a number of diplomatic tools that we deploy around the world to help achieve the UK's foreign policy goals. We consider them to be most effective when backed by co-ordinated, collective action, as we took in March. We continue to keep all evidence and potential listings under close review.

West Papua: Coronavirus

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the UK Government has plans to supply covid-19 vaccines direct to authorities in West Papua.

Nigel Adams: The UK's G7 Presidency has championed equitable access to vaccines, and in June the Prime Minister announced at the G7 Leader's Meeting that the UK will share 100 million doses within the next year, 30 million of those by the end of 2021. 80% of these will go to COVAX, which remains best-placed to allocate vaccines to where they will be most effective. To date, COVAX has delivered 11.7 million vaccines in Indonesia. These have been distributed across the country, including the provinces of Papua and West Papua. The Foreign Secretary met with Health Minister Budi in April this year during his visit to Indonesia, and also discussed joint efforts to tackle Covid-19 with Foreign Minister Marsudi at the G20 summit on 29 June.

Bermuda: EU External Trade

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps is his Department taking to support Bermuda in discussions with the European Union on future of trade between those two parties.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps is his Department taking to assist Anguilla in discussions with the European Union on future of trade between those two parties.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps is his Department taking to support Monserrat in discussions with the European Union on future of trade between those two parties.

Nigel Adams: We remain unwavering in our commitment to safeguarding the Overseas Territories' interests and we are providing support to Anguilla, Bermuda and Montserrat, following the UK's withdrawal from the EU. During negotiations of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the UK made clear to the EU from the outset that we were negotiating on behalf of the Overseas Territories. However, the European Commission refused to negotiate a future relationship that included the Overseas Territories. We sought to change the Commission's position, but the Commission declined to engage. We continue to work with all the Overseas Territories to take advantage of the opportunities available to us as an independent trading nation.

Developing Countries: Women's Rights

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) gender equality and (b) women’s rights are supported beyond commitments to girls’ education in its International Development Strategy.

Wendy Morton: FCDO is committed to ensuring gender equality and women's rights remain at the heart of the UK's approach to development, and commitments beyond girls' education will feature in the new International Development Strategy. We look forward to engaging with partners and stakeholders, including civil society, on the Strategy over the coming months.

Developing Countries: Women's Rights

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that women’s rights organisations and experts have opportunities to input into the new International Development Strategy.

Wendy Morton: We look forward to engaging with a diverse range of partners and stakeholders, including civil society, on the International Development Strategy over the coming months. Women's rights organisations are critical to achieving lasting transformation in women's and girls' rights, and the Integrated Review specifically commits FCDO to work closely with them to tackle the violence and discrimination that hold women back.

Ministry of Defence

Shipbuilding

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the national shipbuilding strategy refresh will be published.

Jeremy Quin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8 July 2021 to Question 27009 to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (Mr John Healey).27009 - Shipbuilding (docx, 13.6KB)

Merlin Helicopters: Early Warning Systems

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the forecasted costs are of the Crowsnest programme.

Jeremy Quin: The current forecasted cost for the Crowsnest programme, through to Design and Manufacture contract closure post-FOC, is £435 million.

Chinook Helicopters

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has for the CH-47 Chinook Bravo November when it leaves operational service; and whether those plans involve donating that helicopter to the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon.

Jeremy Quin: Recognising the historical service of this airframe, it is likely that it will be gifted to a suitable Museum ensuring the important RAF stories associated with the aircraft will be preserved and shared to inspire future generations.

Type 23 Frigates

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the sea-going status of each of the 13 Type 23 frigates; and which of those ships are (a) operationally available, (b) undergoing maintenance and/or a refit and (c) temporarily unavailable due to propulsion problems.

Jeremy Quin: The information requested is provided below: ClassUpkeep/MaintenanceOperationally AvailableTotalType 234812River Class Patrol Ships033River II Class Patrol Ships055RFA Tide Class134RFA Wave Class112RFA Landing Ship Docks123Sandown Class257Hunt Class Mine Counter Measure Vessels246HMS ALBION/HMS BULWARK112 To maintain operational security these figures cannot be broken down to the level of detail requested. The information provided dividing vessels into “Upkeep/Maintenance” and “Operationally Available” (ships on deployment or generating for deployment) is correct at the time of release. Twelve Type 23 frigates are included as HMS MONMOUTH left Royal Navy service on 30 June 2021.

Type 45 Destroyers

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has plans to install Multifunction Advanced Data Link on the T45 Destroyer.

Jeremy Quin: There are no current plans to install the Multifunction Advanced Datalink on Type 45 Destroyers.

Merlin Helicopters: Early Warning Systems

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to the public purse is of the delay to the Crowsnest programme; and whether Leonardo share liability for the costs of that delay.

Jeremy Quin: The Ministry of Defence has a firm price contract under the Single Source Contract Regulations for Crowsnest with Lockheed Martin UK. Leonardo UK is a sub-contractor. We continue to reserve our position with Lockheed Martin UK in respect of any further consideration relating to contract performance.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft: Meteor Missiles

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his timetable is for the Meteor air-to-air missile to achieve initial operating capability on the F-35 aircraft.

Jeremy Quin: Initial development work for Meteor integration has progressed well. The Lightning Delivery Team within Defence Equipment and Supply (DE&S), through F-35 Joint Program Office has signed a contract to integrate Meteor in the middle of the decade.

Submarines

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the sea-going status is of each of the (a) four Astute class and (b) two Trafalgar class SSN submarines in commission; and which of those boats are (i) operationally available and (ii) undergoing maintenance and/or refit.

Jeremy Quin: It is UK policy to not disclose the operational availability of submarines, as to do so would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of our Armed Forces. Our submarines continue to meet all operational commitments.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft: Procurement

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) location and (b) operational status is of each of the 48 F-35 aircraft on order from Lockheed Martin.

Jeremy Quin: 21 Lightning aircraft have been delivered to the UK by Lockheed-Martin. The remaining 27 aircraft remain at various stages of production. The location of the 21 delivered aircraft in mid-July 2021 is broken down as follows: 17 Squadron, Edwards AFB USA - Three207 Squadron, RAF Marham - Eight617 Squadron embarked on HMS Queen Elizabeth - EightRAF Marham Maintenance and Finishing Facility - Two

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the through-life cost of the F-35 programme; and on what £/$ exchange rate that assumption is based over the lifetime of the programme.

Jeremy Quin: The estimate of the through-life cost of the F-35 programme is £18.76 billion. Based on the endorsed forty-eight F-35B Programme of Record, this estimate includes sunk costs (already recognised in Defence Accounts) and forecast costs (future expenditure until F-35 Out of Service Date). The sunk costs were recognised at the £/$ exchange rate when the expenditure occurred. Any forecast costs that are transacted in USD$, are converted to GBP£ using the relevant Ministry of Defence Corporate Planning Assumptions for the Annual Budgeting Cycle.

Boeing E-3

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what were the total constructive losses to his Department for the reduction in the numbers of the Sentry aircraft fleet in 2012-13.

Jeremy Quin: The Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2013/14 reported a total constructive loss of £64,050,000 resulting from a reduction in the number of Sentry aircraft as an advance notification from 2012/13. This related to a single aircraft, which was subsequently utilised for ground-based training and project purposes. As such, it was deemed to no longer qualify as a constructive loss but as an impairment. The MOD Annual Report and Accounts 2013/14 can be accessed via the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/381064/MOD_AR13-14_webversion.pdf

Guided Weapons

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what were the total constructive losses to his Department for the reduction in the stockpile of Storm Operational Missiles in 2011-12.

Jeremy Quin: I assume that the right hon. Member is referring to Storm Shadow missiles. The Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13 reported a total constructive loss of £173.1 million resulting from a reduction in the stockpile of Storm Shadow missiles as an advance notification from 2011-12. This reflected the original decision to dispose of a number of missiles. However, this decision was subsequently reversed, and these missiles were never physically disposed of. No constructive loss is therefore deemed to have occurred. The MOD Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13 can be accessed via the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/222874/MOD_AR13_clean.pdf

AWACS

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the whole life cost of the UK's current group of (a) CDEL and (b) RDEL E-7 Wedgetail aircraft.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the total cost is to date of the UK's current group of (a) CDEL and (b) RDEL E-7 Wedgetail aircraft.

Jeremy Quin: The 2021 Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) data set records a cost of £2.2 billion for a baseline fleet of five aircraft. However, this figure is for the acquisition programme and does not include sustainment costs (the Project End date on GMPP is 30 Jun 2026). The 2021 Integrated Review announced a reduction in fleet size to three aircraft and announced that they would be based at RAF Lossiemouth. This change will make a significant reduction in the programme's Whole Life Cost, and an updated estimate will be made ahead of the next formal business case submission, estimated in 2022. The total cost to date (as of June 2021) for the E-7 Wedgetail acquisition are as follows: (a) CDEL: £775.62 million and (b) RDEL: £33.05 million.

Puma Helicopters: Repairs and Maintenance

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the total cost of the Puma upgrade programme was.

Jeremy Quin: The total cost of the Puma Life Extension Programme was £371.6 million.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which vehicle performs the tracked armoured reconnaissance role in the British Army; and in which regiments is that vehicle deployed.

Jeremy Quin: The CVR(T) and Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicle perform the tracked armoured reconnaissance role in the British Army. These vehicles can be found in the following regiments: 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment1st Battalion The Royal Welsh1st Battalion Royal Horse Artillery1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment102 Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers19 Regiment Royal Artillery22 Engineer Regiment26 Engineer Regiment3 Armoured Close Support Battalion4 Armoured Close Support Battalion5th Battalion The Rifles6 Armoured Close Support Battalion8 Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical EngineersKing Royal HussarsQueens Royal HussarsRoyal Tank RegimentRoyal Lancers

Military Aircraft: Operating Costs

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost is per flying hour of operating the (a) Typhoon, (b) F-35, (c) C-130J Hercules, (d) A400M, (e) P-8 Poseidon and (f) Ch-47 Chinook.

Jeremy Quin: I am withholding the information requested as its release would prejudice commercial interests.

Afghanistan: Immigration

Johnny Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications his Department has received for the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy scheme; how many applicants to that scheme have (a) been excluded from the UK relocation option, (b) been accepted for relocation to the UK under category (i) one, (ii) two and (iii) four and (c) not yet been informed of a decision on their application;  and how many of those accepted, rejected or pending were terminated from their employment.

James Heappey: We have significantly accelerated the pace of relocations under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) in line with the military drawdown. Since 1 June 572 people, former Afghan locally employed staff and their families, have been relocated to the UK. The MOD is working with the Home Office and a range of Government departments to ensure their successful resettlement. This now takes the total number of people from Afghanistan relocated to the UK under the ARAP and the previous Ex-Gratia Policy to nearly 2,000.Unfortunately for operational security reasons we cannot at this time comment on specific numbers of applications. Our commitment to those who are eligible under the ARAP, and the process to deliver it, is not time-limited and will endure beyond the military presence in Afghanistan.

Merlin Helicopters: Repairs and Maintenance

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the condition of the Merlin helicopter that his Department left under the care and maintenance of Leonardo.

Jeremy Quin: The aircraft has now completed the ground based electromagnetic compatibility testing and is undergoing maintenance to fully recover the aircraft to an airworthy standard, at no additional cost to the Ministry of Defence.

Electronic Warfare

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what were the total constructive losses to his Department for the cancellation of Project Soothsayer.

Jeremy Quin: The total constructive loss resulting from the cancellation of Project Soothsayer was £87.952 million. The Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2016/17 reported that £50.552 million had been classed as a constructive loss associated with contract termination, while £37.4 million was reported as an extra contractual payment. The Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2016/17 can be accessed via the following link: (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629769/MoD_AR16-17_gov_Web-Optimised.pdf)

Ajax Vehicles: Procurement

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his plans are for the future production of Ajax vehicles; and when he plans to inform contractors of the long-term future of the Ajax vehicle project.

Jeremy Quin: We have a firm price contract with General Dynamics Land Systems UK and we remain committed to working with our partners to bring Ajax into service.

Puma Helicopters

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to dispose of the Puma helicopters earmarked for retirement in the Integrated Review 2021.

Jeremy Quin: No disposal agreements have yet been made regarding the Puma helicopters earmarked for retirement.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles: Sales

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many CVR T Scimitar Reconnaissance vehicles have been disposed of in the last 10 years; to which nations; and what the cost incurred or revenue gained was to his Department of those disposals.

Jeremy Quin: Over the last 10 years, a total of 123 Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) Scimitar have been sold; 42 via a Government-to-Government sale to Latvia, and 81 via the Defence Equipment Sales Authority's Surplus Vehicles Contract.Due to the way in which historic disposals information is recorded, it is not possible to provide exact details of the income generated for Scimitar. However, the combined sales return for all variants of the CVR(T), totalling 592 vehicles, is £3.82 million (excl. VAT).

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the all-up weight with any added armour of the (a) CVR T Scimitar Armoured Fighting Vehicle, (b) Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicle, (c) Ajax Armoured Fighting Vehicle, (d) AS-90 self-propelled gun and (e) Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank.

Jeremy Quin: I thank the right hon. Member for his question, however I must inform him that I am withholding the information requested, as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Mr Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many CVR T Scimitar Reconnaissance vehicles remain in operational service with the British Army; and in which regiments those vehicles are deployed.

Jeremy Quin: Details of the number of vehicles in the UK Armed Forces are published on an annual basis on the government’s website. The most recent publication can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-equipment-and-formations-2020. For reasons of security, we do not publish any further breakdown of this number. Regiments of the British Army which operate these vehicles are: 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers1st Battalion The Royal Welsh1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment102 Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers5th Battalion The Rifles8th Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical EngineersKings Royal HussarsRoyal Dragoon GuardsRoyal LancersRoyal Tank Regiment

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit: Fraud

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure fraudulent universal credit claims are (a) identified and (b) reported as soon as possible.

Will Quince: DWP takes fraud and error very seriously and it should be noted that, during a period when we have faced the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19, fraud and error in the benefits system remains low, with 95% of benefits, worth more than £200bn. paid correctly in 2020/21. We recognise that a small percentage of Universal Credit claims made during COVID-19 are in payment incorrectly and we are now re-visiting those cases which have the highest residual risk of incorrectness. Any overpayments will be pursued and where fraud is a factor, we will consider formal action. We continue to invest in fraud and error prevention, with the Chancellor announcing £44m at the Spring Budget to support the expansion of both our Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service and our new Enhanced Checking Service and the development of Transaction Risking as a means of identifying high risk claims. Our work with other Government departments and law enforcement agencies, both nationally and across borders, helps ensure appropriate intelligence and resources are shared,enabling the totality of any criminality to be identified and investigated. Our Annual Report and Accounts published on 15 July 2021 provides more information on what we are doing to prevent fraud from occurring: DWP annual report and accounts 2020 to 2021

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Wines: Imports

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether abolishing the VI1 form for wine imports requires primary legislation.

Victoria Prentis: No power has been conferred specifically for the purpose of abolishing all VI1 forms, and, because abolishing VI1 forms would involve the repeal of retained direct principal EU legislation, new primary legislation would be required to confer such a power. It would also be possible for new primary legislation to be made which removes the provisions requiring the use of the VI1 form directly.

Fishing Vessels: Monitoring

Ruth Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department is taking to mandate the use of Inshore Vessel Monitoring Systems (I-VMS) for fishing vessels under 12 metres.

Victoria Prentis: Control and enforcement is a devolved matter. Defra, the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive continue to work together to share information and ensure a coordinated approach to monitoring, compliance and enforcement across UK waters. The requirement to have a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) for all vessels under 12 metres when fishing in English waters, irrespective of nationality, will ultimately be mandated by a Statutory Instrument and amendments to the licence conditions for those fishing vessels. This work is progressing, and following an initial public consultation in 2018, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) recently undertook a series of engagement sessions and an industry survey to gain further feedback. This feedback will be used to inform planned discussions about the specification requirements with companies that may supply the required VMS devices. The MMO plans to conduct more sessions with industry over the summer and autumn and hopes to be able to begin roll-out of VMS devices to the under 12 metre fleet following this engagement.

Marine Protected Areas

Ruth Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to publish the next Marine Protected Areas Network report.

Rebecca Pow: The Marine Protected Areas Network report is published every six years. The latest report was published in 2018 and the next will be published in 2024.

Water: Meters

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring households to have water meters in England and Wales.

Rebecca Pow: In 2019 the Government carried out a consultation on measures to reduce personal water consumption, which sought views on households being charged by the volume of water they consume. The Government’s response to the consultation was published in a Written Ministerial Statement on 1 July 2021. Responses to the consultation and call for evidence are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/water-conservation-measures-to-reduce-personal-water-use

Marine Protected Areas

Ruth Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the lifetimes of the (a) Marine Protected Areas and (b) Highly Protected Marine Areas programmes.

Rebecca Pow: Marine conservation is a devolved competence and the following information therefore relates to England only.We view MPAs as permanent features of our conservation efforts at sea and the improvements we will see to marine biodiversity within each site would be lost if their protection was to be removed. We will keep them under review and make changes where new scientific evidence suggests it is needed.On 8 June 2021, the Government published its response to the Benyon Review into Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs). The Government accepted the central recommendation that we should take forward some pilot sites with the purpose of biodiversity recovery. The Government is developing criteria for HPMA identification to create a list of potential sites this year, followed by consultation and designations in 2022. We will evaluate the effects of pilot HPMAs on the ecosystem, social and economic factors and this evaluation will inform future HPMA work.

Amazon: Consumer Goods

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 6 July 2021 to Question 23303 and  2 July 2021 to Question 21310, on what date Ministers met with Amazon to discuss measures to stop Amazon destroying usable stock; and if he will make a statement.

Rebecca Pow: The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy raised the media reports of stock destruction during a call with Amazon on 24 June during which Amazon outlined their seven-point plan for dealing with unsold goods to ensure they are not sent to landfill. Our position on this important issue was set out in our previous responses. We have nothing further to add at this stage.

Food: Waste

Alicia Kearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will introduce mandatory business food waste reporting by 2022 in line with the recommendations of the Climate Change Committee.

Rebecca Pow: We will consult this year on introducing regulations to make the public reporting of food waste volumes mandatory for certain businesses of an appropriate size. By ensuring businesses are measuring and publicly reporting their food waste, we expect to drive action to reduce it. Due to the ongoing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on food and drink businesses, we postponed the launch of this consultation. Some businesses will require time to embed measurement techniques and build confidence in their data. This needs to be balanced alongside the need to continue reducing our food waste, increasing redistribution of surplus and measuring more accurately to understand the scale of the problem. We therefore propose that reporting starts at least one year after regulations are passed. This will offer businesses time to seek guidance and implement measurement techniques within their operations. Subject to the consultation responses we therefore would be requiring businesses to report food waste in 2024, for food waste measured in the 2023/2024 financial year. This will ensure data is readily available which in turn will allow for comparison and assessment against our national and international targets.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Email

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he or any of the Ministers in his Department use personal email addresses to conduct Government business.

Victoria Prentis: Ministers will use a range of digital forms of communication for discussions in line with relevant guidance on information handling and security. Ministers will have informal conversations from time to time, in person or remotely, and significant content relating to government business from such discussions is passed back to officials. The Cabinet Office has previously published guidance on how information is held for the purposes of access to information, and how formal decisions are recorded for the official record. Ministers are also given advice on the security of electronic communications.

Fishing Vessels: Monitoring

Olivia Blake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish a strategy on the roll out of fleet-wide remote electronic monitoring of fishing vessels.

Victoria Prentis: Defra ran a call for evidence on the use of REM in English fisheries last autumn and published the responses on 7 May. The call for evidence indicated that there are differing views on the use of REM. Defra will engage with stakeholders further to consider how to take forward a future policy. The Government has been clear that we see the benefits of expanding the use of remote electronic monitoring (REM), but we must develop the right policy for our industry and the marine environment.Decisions on timing and coverage will be taken as part of wider policy development, on which we will consult in due course. Enforcement and scientific monitoring are devolved matters and remote electronic monitoring is therefore a devolved competence. This information relates to England only.

Home Office

Fraud

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle fraud and economic crime.

Kit Malthouse: This Government is committed to protecting people from all types of fraud and pursuing those who perpetuate these crimes wherever possible. It is for this reason that as part of the 2020 Spending Review, the Government committed a further £63m to the Home Office to tackle economic crime, including fraud. In May, we published a Statement of Progress on the Economic Crime Plan which committed to developing a comprehensive Fraud Action Plan. This will outline how we plan to further strengthen how we combat fraud and will be published after the 2021 Spending Review.As part of the Police Uplift Programme to recruit an additional 20,000 officers by 2023, we have prioritised more investigators in the City of London Police to fulfil their role as a world class fraud specialist force. We have also channelled additional officer resource into the Regional Organised Crime Unit network to work on a host of serious and organised crime threats including fraud.We have also been working closely alongside the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) who launched their Suspicious Email Reporting Service last year. This system has proved an instant success with the public, with over 6.5 million reports received and the removal of over 50,500 scams and 97,500 websites taken down since its inception in April 2020.We also continue to encourage anyone who has been a targeted by fraud to report it. Action Fraud is the central police reporting point for all victims of fraud and can be contacted by phone on 0300 123 2040 or through their website: http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud. This information is being used by law enforcement partners, alongside crime reports to identify, disrupt and stop fraudsters.

Police: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of a rise in cases of covid-19 on (a) policing and (b) public safety in (i) North Yorkshire and (ii) England.

Kit Malthouse: It is the responsibility of each police force to determine their operational response based on its analysis of risk and local circumstances, and drawing on national operational guidance provided by the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC). This remains a priority for forces as they deal with tackling the challenges that have arisen during this pandemic. The Home Office has worked closely with the NPCC throughout the pandemic to monitor the impact of covid on police forces and to ensure they have the tools and capacity to continue to respond to keep the public safe.

Fire Services: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of a rise in cases of covid-19 on the (a) capacity and (b) response capability of the Fire and Rescue Service in (i) North Yorkshire and (ii) England.

Kit Malthouse: It is the responsibility of each fire and rescue authority to determine their operational response based on its analysis of risk and local circumstances, and drawing on national operational guidance provided by the National Fire Chiefs’ Council (NFCC). This remains a priority for services as they deal with tackling the challenges that have arisen during this pandemic. The Home Office has worked closely with the NFCC throughout the pandemic to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on fire and rescue services in England.

Police: Colombia

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the National Crime Agency has provided any training to the Mobile Anti-Disturbances Squadron / Escuadrón Móvil Antidisturbios (ESMAD) unit of the Colombian National Police.

Kit Malthouse: The NCA works with law enforcement counterparts around the world, including in various South American countries. In Colombia, the NCA works with a number of Colombian departments including the Colombian National Police and the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia. This activity is focused on reducing the threat to the UK from the cocaine trade in Colombia and the region, as well as disrupting the money laundering and other criminal economies linked to drugs trafficking and other organised crime. All of NCA’s activity overseas, including the provision of security and justice assistance to partners is conducted in accordance with International Human Rights Legislation and HMG policy.

Fire Stations: Yorkshire and the Humber

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many fire stations there were in Yorkshire in (a) 2010 and in (b) 2020.

Kit Malthouse: The number of fire stations in North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire, the three fire and rescue services that make up the Yorkshire region werea) 108 in 2010b) 97 in 2020 Source and further detail is available in table FIRE1403 herehttps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/959623/fire-statistics-data-tables-fire1403-110221.xlsx Operational matters (including where to locate fire stations) and the response to them are for each individual fire and rescue service (FRS) to determine, along with their associated Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA). Every fire and rescue service is obliged to carry out its own risk assessments and identify appropriate control measures to protect its staff and communities. The Integrated Risk Management Plan for each FRS is published by the FRA. The National Fire Chiefs Council, through their Central Programme Office, provide operational guidance spanning a wide range of activity to assist fire and rescue services in their work.

Violence Reduction Units: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to (a) change funding for Violence Reduction Units and (b) fund only for knife crime and serious violence reduction.

Kit Malthouse: Over three years, through the Serious Violence Fund (SVF), the Home Office has invested a total of £242 million in the 18 police force areas in England and Wales that are most affected by serious violence.£105.5 million of this has been invested in multi-agency Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in these areas, whilst the remaining £136.5 million of the SVF has been invested to support the police in taking targeted action to respond to serious violence, including knife crime. Northumbria PCC has been allocated £4,800,000 since 2019 to set-up and develop their VRU, whilst Northumbria Police has been allocated £4,750,685 for operational activity.The 18 areas in receipt of the SVF have been selected for funding based on their volumes of hospital admissions relating to injury with a sharp object, which represents the most consistent and reliable data source for serious violence. Collectively, these areas have accounted for 80% of total relevant admissions, allowing the SVF to focus on a significant majority of the serious violence problem across England and Wales. Total allocations to the selected areas reflect the proportion of relevant admissions in each area.Future serious violence funding and potential allocation models will be carefully considered in the context of Departmental priorities through the upcoming Spending Review process. Whilst we cannot pre-empt the potential outcome of that process, we do recognise the need for VRUs to function as long-term, sustainable organisations delivering a ‘whole-systems’ approach to tackling serious violence and are working hard to achieve this.

Asylum: Eritrea

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 6.11 of Foreign and Commonwealth Office 2019 Human Rights and Democracy report on the use of national service in Eritrea, what assessment her Department has made of the reasons for Eritreans seeking asylum in the UK since 2019; and what assessment her Department has made of the change in the level of asylum applications from Eritreans between 2019 and 2021.

Kevin Foster: All asylum and human rights applications from Eritrean nationals are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations.Each individual assessment is made against the background of the latest available country of origin information and any relevant caselaw. The Eritrean Country Policy and Information Notes (available on gov.uk) outlines our position.We cannot comment on individual cases however our assessment states the vast majority of Eritreans base their asylum claim on their desertion from, or evasion of, compulsory national service as well as the potential consequences of such (for example: leaving the country illegally).The Home Office publishes data on the number of applications for asylum in the UK, broken down by nationality, in its quarterly Immigration Statistics release. The number of applications made by Eritreans in each year are available in table Asy_01C (Main Applicants; Asylum, volume 1).Latest edition available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2021/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Floods: Chester

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the level of financial support required for Cheshire West and Chester Council following the flood damage caused by Storm Christoph.

Luke Hall: Cheshire West and Chester Council receive unringfenced funding through the local government finance settlement to spend on local priorities Following Storm Christoph MHCLG officials worked with local authority partners and the Environment Agency to determine the extent of the impacts of flooding from Storm Christoph and if additional financial support was appropriate.   Government support for recovery costs is predicated on the Flood Recovery Framework, which is activated when impacts are severe and widespread. Further financial support was not judged necessary on this occasion.

Public sector: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the easing of covid-19 restrictions on 19 July 2021 on the delivery of statutory public services.

Luke Hall: The relationship between cases and hospitalisation has changed; and while cases will continue to rise as set out from the start of the Roadmap, the vaccination programme has substantially weakened the link between infection and serious illness or death Local authorities in England have a statutory duty to provide a range of services to their communities and have business continuity plans in place in order to continue to deliver these services and mitigate against any disruptions.

Levelling Up Fund

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many applications his Department received to the Levelling Up Fund by the closing date for first round applications of 18 June 2021.

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many applications his Department received to the Levelling Up Fund by the closing date for first round applications of 18 June 2021 from local authorities in Wales.

Luke Hall: I am delighted to say that the first round of the Levelling Up Fund received significant interest from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland bidding authorities across the three investment priorities of the Fund. Bids are currently being assessed in line with the published assessment process. Outcomes from the first round of bids for the Levelling Up Fund will be announced later in the year and bidding authorities will be informed in due course.

Local Government Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has plans to make an assessment of the potential effect of reductions in funding for local government on regional health disparities, including life expectancy.

Luke Hall: The Government carefully considers how its policies will affect communities across the country. For example, each year, we conduct an assessment of the equality impacts of the annual Local Government Finance Settlement and publish a statement on the Gov UK website. As the equality statement makes clear, this year the Government made available an increase in overall Core Spending Power of 4.6% in cash terms and ensured that no local authority saw a reduction in Core Spending Power compared to 2020-21, which benefitted all those with protected characteristics. These increases build on the largest year-on-year increase in spending power in a decade in 2020-21.Reducing health inequalities will also be a core aim of the new Office of Health Promotion (OHP). The OHP will systematically tackle the top preventable risk factors, improving the public's health and narrowing health inequalities. It will set health improvement priorities for government, and will work with the whole of government, the NHS, local government, industry and wider partners to deliver on these priorities.

Building Safety Bill

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the proposed timescale for an Accountable Person to be able to commence building safety works under the provisions of the Building Safety Bill.

Christopher Pincher: The Building Safety Bill sets out requirements on Accountable Persons to make a full assessment of and take reasonable steps to manage prescribed building safety risks, which are defined in the Bill as the spread of fire and structural failure.The draft transition plan, developed with the HSE, published alongside the Bill, sets out expected timeframes for the provisions in the Bill coming into force.We currently expect the provisions relating to the new duties on Accountable Persons to come into force around 18 months after the Bill gains Royal Ascent.

Buildings: Insurance

Andrew Lewer: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with relevant stakeholders on the potential response of managing agents’ professional indemnity insurers to building and fire safety works obligations under the Building Safety Bill.

Christopher Pincher: The Government understands that those involved in the construction industry are struggling to obtain adequate professional indemnity insurance (PII) for fire safety work.We have been engaging with industry to investigate these challenges and those arising from the increased obligations outlined in the Building Safety Bill. This includes developing an industry survey with the Construction Leadership Council to provide a robust evidence base on the construction PII market.We are working across Government and with industry to find possible solutions that may improve the availability of PII for construction professionals.

Waking Watch Relief Fund

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2021 to Question 29765 on High Rise Flats: Fire Prevention, how much and what proportion of the £30 million Waking Watch Relief is (a) allocated, (b) spent and (c) unspent.

Christopher Pincher: Data on the Waking Watch Relief Fund, including the amount of funding allocated and approved, has been published at: www.gov.uk/guidance/waking-watch-relief-fund#waking-watch-relief-fund-data.The majority of the Fund is administered by local and regional authorities, who are responsible for providing the allocated funding to buildings in their area.

Council Housing: West Yorkshire

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many council homes have been completed in West Yorkshire in each of the last 20 years.

Christopher Pincher: The number of affordable housing starts and completions, broken down by tenure, local authority area, provider and whether they are a new build or acquisition can be found in the affordable housing statistics open data through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply .

Oxford-cambridge Arc

Anneliese Dodds: To the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the team working on the Oxford to Cambridge Arc Spatial Framework has undertaken analysis of the different approaches to environmentally-friendly planning by local authorities along the Arc; and if they will publish this analysis.

Christopher Pincher: Environmental sustainability is at the heart of our approach to the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, with a core focus for the Spatial Framework development being sustainable green growth.The natural environment does not fit within administrative boundaries, so a cross-boundary approach is intended to make it easier to deliver against environmental priorities across the whole area. This includes working closely with local partners across the Arc including local planning authorities.To ensure sustainability is embedded in the Spatial Framework we are producing a Sustainability Appraisal to address environmental issues alongside social and economic issues as the framework and its policies develop. This will inform decision-making and help achieve improved sustainability outcomes. A Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report has been prepared as part of our public consultation this summer. This provides more information on our approach and on the Arc's environmental assets.Two further stages of public consultation on the Spatial Framework will follow, including a second consultation on policy options, and a third consultation on the draft framework. Each stage will be supported by the Sustainability Appraisal and evidence to explain our approach to policy development.We also appreciate the significant work that has already been undertaken by local partners to develop an evidence base to support planning. We will review the existing evidence and use the most relevant, up-to-date and reliable analysis, to help inform the Spatial Framework's development.

Housing: West Yorkshire

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many houses by housing type have been completed in West Yorkshire in each of the last 20 years.

Christopher Pincher: Annual estimates of housing supply, including new build completions, in West Yorkshire, are shown in Live Table 123, at the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housingEstimates of the proportion of new build housing by type, based on building control reported new build dwelling completions, for England and the Yorkshire and Humber region, are shown in Live Table 254, at the following link.https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-buildingEstimates of housing type are not available for West Yorkshire.

Housing: Insulation

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many homes in West Yorkshire have cladding that falls below the safe standard levels.

Christopher Pincher: Information on the number of high-rise (over 18m) residential and publicly-owned buildings with ACM cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations by local authority, is published in Web Table 3 of the Building Safety Programme data release.For high-rise residential buildings with unsafe non-ACM cladding, the Department is continuing to work with building owners to progress applications for the Building Safety Fund at pace so more remedial works can begin as swiftly as possible. We expect applicants to the Building Safety Fund to start works on site by 30 September 2021 where possible. Information on registrations to the Building Safety Fund by local authority can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#building-safety-fund-registration-statistics.We have begun a pilot data collection project for 11-18m residential buildings to identify materials in use and to inform the design of a wider national 11-18m data collection exercise. We will be publishing further details.The Building Safety Bill will bring about a fundamental change in both the regulatory framework for building safety and construction industry culture, ensuring those responsible for buildings ensure fire and structural safety risks are properly managed.

Homelessness: Prisoners' Release

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to bring into force all the provisions under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to better meet the needs of homeless female prison leavers.

Eddie Hughes: This Government is committed to ending rough sleeping this Parliament and fully enforcing the Homelessness Reduction Act.We are working across government and with the Ministry of Justice to address the barriers offenders face in securing suitable accommodation and are aware of the specific complex needs of women prison leavers.To reflect this we have updated the Homelessness Code of Guidance to ensure local authorities are equipped to identify the specific support needs of women leaving prison.The Ministry of Justice has committed over £20 million to supporting prison leavers at risk of homelessness into temporary accommodation and will support individuals into long-term settled accommodation. My department secured funding at the 2020 Spending Review to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness into private rented sector tenancies. The Ministry of Justice has also opened Approved Premises for women.

Freehold and Leasehold

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to (a) monitor and (b) ensure that the public pledge of 27 June 2019 made by freeholders for leaseholders is being upheld.

Eddie Hughes: We understand the difficulties and frustrations for existing leaseholders who are unhappy with the ground rent they are required to pay and feel their leases should be changed.The Public Pledge for Leaseholders is a voluntary code signed by over 60 freeholders, developers, investors and property agents. The signatories to the pledge who are freeholders committed to contacting existing leaseholders with ground rents that doubled more frequently than every 20 years, to offer to amend to increases based on RPI.The Government asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms in the leasehold sector. We are pleased that the CMA is taking enforcement action in relation to two key issues. First, to tackle certain instances of mis-selling of leasehold property. Second, to address the problems faced by homeowners from high and increasing ground rents. On 23 June the CMA announced commitments secured from Aviva and Persimmon to amend their practices regarding doubling ground rents and houses sold as leasehold.Aviva have committed to remove ground rent terms that the CMA considers unfair and repay homeowners who saw ground rents doubled. It will also remove terms that were originally doubling clauses that have been converted to RPI-based ground rent terms.The CMA also recommended improvements to the quality of information available to consumers early in the buying process. Specifically, Persimmon has agreed to extend the timeframe that prospective buyers are given to exchange contracts after reserving a property, and to provide people with more upfront information about the annual costs of buying a home. This addresses concerns that the reservation period – i.e. the period of time during which a potential buyer must take a number of steps to progress the purchase – is too short and can pressure the buyer into making a decision.These commitments are a hugely important step and demonstrate our determination to support affected leaseholders. We urge other developers to follow suit.

Housing: Fire Prevention

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with property developers in response to the Competition and Markets Authority agreement with Persimmon on freehold costs.

Eddie Hughes: Ministers meet a range of stakeholders from the development industry on a regular basis. However, no meetings with developers have specifically covered the CMA’s agreements with Persimmon. The commitments secured by the CMA are a hugely important step and demonstrate our determination to support affected leaseholders. We urge other developers to follow suit.

Private Rented Housing: West Yorkshire

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made made of the average monthly cost of private rent in West Yorkshire in 2020.

Eddie Hughes: For the latest year (to March 2021) the average monthly private rent in the West Yorkshire metropolitan area was £643 per month (mean) or £595 per month (median).Full rental estimates are available through the following dataset: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/datasets/privaterentalmarketsummarystatisticsinengland.

Cabinet Office

11 Downing Street: Repairs and Maintenance

Cat Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish the contract awards and invoices for the most recent refurbishment and renovation of the Prime Minister's residence in Downing Street.

Julia Lopez: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to PQ 3021 on 25 May 2021.

Zero Hours Contracts: Yorkshire and the Humber

Jon Trickett: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of workers on zero hours contracts in (a) the Hemsworth constituency, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) Yorkshire and Humber.

Chloe Smith: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.UKSA response PQ34454 (pdf, 62.3KB)

Department for International Trade

Free Trade

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent progress she has made with her G7 counterparts on advocating for free and fair trade throughout the world.

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: In May, G7 Trade Ministers united in their commitment to free and fair trade; to a global trading system with open markets; and to ensuring the multilateral trading system is reformed, responding to the needs of the British people and others around the world.Ministers committed to protect individuals from forced labour in global supply chains, and to work together in tackling market distorting practices that threaten the integrity of the rules-based trading system.

Tradeshow Access Programme

Simon Jupp: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what plans her Department has to announce a replacement scheme for the Tradeshow Access Programme.

Graham Stuart: The Department for International Trade will announce further details on plans for a revised trade show support programme when discussions with HM Treasury are concluded. The £38m Internationalisation Fund, launched last year, provides matching grants for export support including attendance at trade shows.

Department for International Trade: Email

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether (a) she and (b) other Ministers of her Department have used personal email addresses to conduct Government business.

Greg Hands: Ministers will use a range of digital forms of communication for discussions in line with relevant guidance on information handling and security. Ministers will have informal conversations from time to time, in person or remotely, and significant content relating to government business from such discussions is passed back to officials. The Cabinet Office has previously published guidance on how information is held for the purposes of access to information, and how formal decisions are recorded for the official record. Ministers are also given advice on the security of electronic communications.

Department for International Trade: Ethnic Groups

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many Black and ethnic minority staff are employed by her Department.

Greg Hands: As of 31 March 2021, the Department for International Trade, including UK Export Finance, employs 610 people who identify as Black, Asian or Ethnic Minority from a reportable population of 3103 (19.65%). This includes only those on our domestic payrolls and UK based staff working overseas.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Football Index

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timetable is for the findings of the Independent Inquiry into Football Index to be published.

Mr John Whittingdale: The Secretary of State has appointed Malcolm Sheehan QC to lead the independent review into the regulation of BetIndex Limited, the operators of Football index. The review is expected to provide a report for publication in the summer. Its findings will form part of the evidence informing the government’s ongoing Review of the Gambling Act 2005, which was announced in December 2020.

Gambling Act 2005

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department plans to publish the results of the Gambling Act Review.

Mr John Whittingdale: The Review of the Gambling Act 2005 was launched on 8 December with a wide-ranging Call for Evidence, which closed on 31 March. We received c.16,000 submissions from a range of stakeholders and members of the public, which we are considering carefully. The government aims to publish a white paper setting out and consulting on next steps by the end of the year.

Broadband

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of CircleLoop which placed the UK 28th in the world for broadband speeds; and what steps he is taking to accelerate full-fibre and 5G rollout.

Matt Warman: CircleLoop’s 'Connected Countries’ report ranks countries using average download speed data, rather than the maximum speed available. Given the pace of the gigabit rollout in the UK, it is understandable that in some cases consumers may wish to wait until their current contract ends before seeking higher speeds. The government remains committed to delivering nationwide gigabit connectivity as soon as possible. Today, over two in five premises can access gigabit-capable networks, up from just one in ten in November 2019. By the end of the year, 60% will have access to a gigabit network, and we are on track to achieving a minimum of 85% gigabit-capable coverage by 2025. It is the government's view that the best way to achieve nationwide gigabit coverage is to remove barriers to deployment and create a competition-friendly environment in areas where deployment is commercially viable, while focussing government funds on the 20% of the country where commercial deployment is unlikely. To support the hardest-to-reach areas, we have launched Project Gigabit, our £5bn programme to ensure these areas receive gigabit coverage within the same timescales as the rest of the country. 5G Network deployment plans are a matter for the mobile network operators, but the government is undertaking a number of actions to support this. We will shortly publish our response to the consultation on potential reforms to the Electronic Communications Code, which sought views on how we can better facilitate the deployment of new networks, including 5G. Alongside this, we have also consulted on reforms to the planning system to support 5G deployment and extend mobile coverage, and we intend to publish our response to the consultation and bring forward legislation in the Autumn.We are confident that through these actions we will achieve our 5G rollout ambitions for the majority of the population to have access to a 5G signal by 2027.

Charities: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to assist charities with delivering community services and support in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

Matt Warman: Government recognises the huge contribution of charities and civil society in the national effort against coronavirus, and the significant challenges that many have experienced. This is why we made available a multi billion pound package of support, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the £750 million package for charities and voluntary organisations. DCMS is committed to working with sector representatives on shared priorities for supporting a strong, sustainable and healthy sector during the covid-19 pandemic and beyond. We have also awarded grant funding to the VCS Emergency Partnership to help provide vital on-going coordination and insights-building within the voluntary sector. This included funding to the National Association of Voluntary and Community Associations (NAVCA) of more than £1.5 million for onward grants to over 200 local grassroots organisations. My department is also working across government to understand how they are working with and supporting key subsectors, such as community services. We will continue to have ongoing conversations with both the charity sector and key government partners to help monitor the health and resilience of the charity sector.

Voluntary Organisations: Integrated Care Boards

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he (a) has had and (b) plans to have with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the level of resources available to the Councils for Voluntary Services sector to shadow Integrated Care System boards.

Matt Warman: The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has not held any discussions with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) about the level of resources needed by Councils for Voluntary Service to shadow Integrated Care System boards. Each government department is responsible for considering how the resourcing needs for civil society partners are impacted by policy decisions. As DHSC is responsible for Integrated Care Systems policy, it is for DHSC to decide what, if any role there will be for civil society partners, and whether this requires additional resources. As the department with overall responsibility for civil society, DCMS regularly brings together other government departments to discuss civil society, with the aim of ensuring that the views and needs of the sector are considered in the development of policy across government.

Charities: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with businesses on support for local charities during the covid-19 outbreak.

Matt Warman: Businesses have played a significant role in supporting charities up and down the country during the pandemic. Officials in my department and across government, have held a number of conversations with business and charity sector representatives throughout the pandemic. Government has published guidance for businesses setting out how they can best support the charity sector, and separate guidance for civil society organisations on how to access support. This included information on pro-bono professional services, digital support to aid service transformation, enabling staff volunteering, and funding. Government has also linked up businesses with suitable brokers, including Business in the Community and Volunteering Matters. These brokers have specialist skills in making connections between businesses and charities.

Food: Advertising

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make it his policy to (a) introduce a junk food advertising ban before 2023 and (b) expand that ban to cover junk food advertising on television, other broadcasting platforms and in public spaces.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government is legislating in the Health and Care Bill to introduce a restriction on paid-for advertising of food and drinks products high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) online and a 9pm watershed on TV. This watershed will also apply to all On-Demand Programme Services (ODPS) under the jurisdiction of the UK. ODPS that do not fall under the UK’s jurisdiction will be included in the online restriction of paid-for HFSS advertising. These measures will come into force simultaneously at the end of 2022. It is not the Government’s intention to legislate to restrict HFSS advertising in public spaces. This form of advertising is subject to advertising codes regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority which include restricting HFSS advertising in media directed at children under 16.

Information Commissioner's Office: Complaints

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Information Commissioner on resolving the delay caused by the covid-19 outbreak in responding to complaints about the use of personal data particularly in regard to fraud.

Mr John Whittingdale: The Independent Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is aware that criminal organisations and individuals have used the Covid-19 outbreak for fraudulent activity, for example by taking advantage of the economic downturn to encourage innocent victims to apply for financial relief funds in exchange for their personal details. The ICO remains ready to investigate any complaints about organisations taking advantage of the current pandemic, providing they fall within their remit on the mis-use of personal data. If the complaint falls outside of their remit, the ICO will refer them to their partners in law enforcement, Action Fraud, Trading Standards or other relevant bodies. The ICO acknowledges that it began the last financial year carrying vacancies in its operational areas, but this has now been addressed and should allow them to deal with cases quicker. The ICO was still able to deal with around 84% of cases within six months of receipt and expects to improve that significantly during the financial year 2021/ 2022. The ICO have also implemented a new casework management system, which they expect to provide efficiencies as they develop its functionality in the coming year. A full analysis of how the ICO responded to the challenges of Covid-19 will be covered in a separate report to Parliament, which will be published over the summer. The report will include details of the lessons learned that will inform the ICO's future approach.

Gambling: Social Media

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made for the implications of his policies of reports of gambling operators taking bets over social media and messaging platforms to avoid gambling regulations and social responsibility schemes.

Mr John Whittingdale: Gambling operators are only allowed to provide facilities in the way their Gambling Commission licence and licence conditions allow. If an operator is able under the terms of its licence to accept bets via a messaging platform or social media, it must abide by all the regulatory controls of its licence. Requirements include the need for checks so it is clear who is placing the bet, systems to identify those at risk of harm, and compliance with GDPR regulations on data collection and retention.

Research: ICT

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits for the UK's research community of a Government-backed national research cloud which would enable academics to analyse, share and retain large and complex data sets.

Mr John Whittingdale: We recognise that there are significant opportunities for the UK’s research community through sharing and accessing large datasets. The National Data Strategy (NDS), published in September 2020, set out our vision to harness the power of responsible data use to boost productivity, create new businesses and jobs, improve public services, support a fairer society, and drive scientific discovery, positioning the UK as the forerunner of the next wave of innovation. As part of Mission One of the NDS - unlocking the value of data across the economy - DCMS is thinking about how we can support the development of infrastructure that promotes the availability of data for research and development purposes. We will engage key experts, academics and other stakeholders to develop our thinking.

Football

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans the Government has to celebrate the recent achievements of the England football team.

Nigel Huddleston: The England team enjoyed a magnificent run in Euro 2020 and I once again pass on my huge congratulations to the team for their work on and off the pitch. We continue to work closely with the FA on ensuring their players get the appropriate recognition, and recognise that they are already focused on qualification for the Qatar World Cup next year.

Swimming Pools

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to (a) ensure and (b) improve public access to local (i) indoor and (ii) outdoor swimming pools.

Nigel Huddleston: We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to indoor and outdoor pools and we agree that swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. Government has provided a range of support for swimming pools during the pandemic. The £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund supported the reopening of local authority swimming pools throughout the country. In addition, Sport England have made 127 Covid support awards to the Swimming & Diving community (totalling £1,100,560), and a further 20 awards to multi-sport projects (totalling £211,171) where swimming and diving are expected to benefit. Beyond Covid, Sport England have awarded £8,529,154 to swimming and diving projects since April 2017, and have provided £16,123,002 of funding to Swim England in the same period.

Artificial Intelligence: EU Action

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the principles set out in the EU proposals for regulations on artificial intelligence.

Mr John Whittingdale: The UK notes the European Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation on a European approach for Artificial Intelligence (AI) with interest. The future of EU regulation on AI is a matter for the Commission, the Member States and European Parliament. The UK is playing a leading role in international discussions on AI ethics and potential regulations, such as work at the Council of Europe, the OECD, UNESCO and the Global Partnership on AI. We will publish a new National AI Strategy later this year. Under this strategy we will continue to work with international partners including the EU to support the development of the rules around the use of AI for the benefit of our societies and economies. We are monitoring developments across the world, including in the EU, to assess whether and how those developments can inform our own laws and practices. The independent Regulatory Horizons Council (RHC) has also been appointed to scan the horizon for new technological innovations and provide the government with impartial, expert advice on the regulatory reform required to support AI’s rapid and safe introduction, while protecting citizens and the environment.